Waves Crashing Upon the Sky
by OwlsCantRead
Summary: The deep water and the sprawling skies. At first glance, polar opposites of each other. But on closer inspection, more similar than one might think. Two shiny stones allow Ducky and Petrie the chance to live out a separate identity as members of their opposite elements. However, their friendships soon end up intertwined in a web of lies and deceit as a result of their double lives.
1. To Tempt a Flyer

Words in _italics_ indicate character thoughts or flashbacks.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Land Before Time or any of its many, many sequels.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: To Tempt a Flyer**

Time.

Just what _was_ time?

One could ask any dinosaur that question, and the individual would say that for them, time was something that constantly passed on by like flowing water — something that brought meaning to their life by introducing change with every passing day. After all, the only situation where the passage of time didn't make a difference to a dinosaur was when they had already been lost to the streams of time themselves, having passed on to the Great Beyond, a place where time was infinite and held no meaning.

But to the mortals who still roamed this earth, time was something which they cherished, for its constant motion guaranteed another day where they could live out their lives. In an unpredictable world where one could easily lose their life to predators, hunger, and other ailments, every rise of the Bright Circle was treasured, for it brought forth the promise of a new day… and new experiences.

Although the primitive dinosaurs were unable to measure time in absolute units, time itself was a concept that they were able to grasp. To them, it was something that simply continually passed on by for them like a flowing river. Unable to measure time precisely, however, led to it being relative to their experiences.

All one had to do was ask any poor leaf-eater who had managed to survive being chased by a sharptooth about their terrifying ordeal, and they would undoubtedly tell you that even the briefest of moments during the chase felt to them as though their sprint to escape the predator's pursuit had spanned the entire length of time that it took for the Bright Circle to cross across half the sky.

So if the relativity of time was debatable for even small periods, how would one then define a span of time which stretched over multiple cold times? Perhaps to an elderly dinosaur who was well past their prime, five Cold Times would pass on by in the blink of an eye.

But to someone who was in the prime of their life, like a certain flyer who had perched himself on the branch of a tree that had shriveled up, five Cold Times felt like an absolute eternity.

* * *

"Five Cold Times… oh, woe is me! Five entire Cold Times! It's a complete travesty, I say!"

Many of the nearby flyers ignored the habitual laments of the large brown flyer. They continued to grumble amidst themselves as their ears continued to hear the flyer complaining about his current status. Just about every single member in the flock considered him to be a nutcase — a flyer who had spent too much time flying with his head in the clouds.

"A banishment of five Cold Times, but alas, until now only a mere two and a half of those five has passed. To think that I still have an entire half of that punishment to fulfill… it's truly a depressing thought!" He let his head crest droop before glancing up towards the morning sky in resignation. Wait… was it really a feeling of resignation? Or perhaps, was it one of resentment?

There were certain days where the flyer woke up and found that he was unsure of the answer himself.

"Gragh! I simply cannot stand this torment any longer!" he snapped as he repeatedly stomping his foot against the branch he was standing on, rustling it so vigorously that if the tree hadn't been devoid of tree stars, they would have all fallen off from the shaking. "Even after I've been forced to accept that I would have to wait it out, the end of that banishment is so far away!" he bemoaned, either unable to notice or deliberately choosing to ignore the other flyers rolling their eyes in unison at his antics.

"I've seen the Bright Circle rise and fall so many times… oh, so many times! And yet, the end of this sentence taunts me by being so far out of my grasp!" He let out a wistful sigh, finally calming himself enough for the tree branch to stabilize and return to a state of stillness. "Please, Mr. Threehorn… can't you have just the tiniest shred of mercy on an old flyer like me and absolve me of my exile?"

Eventually though, the flyer brought his dramatic whining to a stop. Honestly, he'd already known deep down that his question was rhetorical — Topps couldn't hear him, and the threehorn wouldn't accede to his request even if he somehow did manage to hear those words.

But what could he do about that, really? Honestly… nothing. There was nary a thing that the flyer could do at the moment to change his current situation. His banishment from the Great Valley had been a unanimous decision made by the various dinosaurs who had gathered around the Rock Circle to discuss his punishment for his crimes two cold times ago.

" _Oh now, please…" he had begged, clasping the fingers on the end of his wingtips together as he pleaded to the many angry adults all surrounding him. "None of the farwalkers want anything to do with me. I'll be alone and defenseless in the Mysterious Beyond!" He wrapped one of his wings around his chest, trying to garner as much sympathy as he possibly could from the dinosaurs around him after his ploy had backfired back on him in a spectacular fashion. "Is that really fair?"_

" _Yes!" the Great Valley residents surrounding the flyer cried out in unison, causing him to flinch back from their combined voices._ _After the resounding echoes from the combined yell had died down, Topps proceeded to spit an addendum in response as the threehorn stormed forward, closing in on the flyer who had just shakily recovered from falling to the ground at the combined yells._

 _"Mark my words. If I'd had it my way, this banishment would have been a lot longer for you, Pterano!"_

 _The gray threehorn shot a nasty glower towards the two large longnecks by his side, making it clear to everyone who was paying attention just who had been the ones who'd forced the stubborn Topps to tone the flyer's punishment down. "It's either you take the five Cold Times, or I swear that you're going to be seeing my horns fill your entire vision!" he growled as he took a step forward, a serious expression donning the dinosaur's face. "So you better hurry and take your pick before I get impatient and make the decision on your behalf, flyer!"_

And that was that. After Topps had lashed out at him, Pterano had left the Great Valley with his pride and dignity in shambles, but at least with all of his bones intact.

Not even his very own sister had been able to save him from the valley's retribution when news of his treachery hit the leaders after his coup fell apart. While Skylar had shot her brother a pity-filled glance from her vantage point, that was all the sapphire blue flyer had been able to give to him — mere visual support.

She wasn't going to stand up for his actions.

Although frankly, Pterano didn't blame her for it, the flyer quite certain that his sister would have been unable to overturn the verdict even if she had. And thus he'd haughtily flown away from the Great Valley, only sparing a final fleeting glance towards the family that he'd been forced to leave behind before he began his new life.

Ironically, he'd been wrong with his own prediction in the end. Despite his fears of having nobody to pay him company in the Mysterious Beyond when the valley had banished him, Pterano had been resourceful and actively scoped out others to be with. As a result, he'd managed to join flocks of migrating flyers from time to time, at least until they eventually split up.

Although, there would be one constant which would invariably remain no matter which herd Pterano found himself being a part of — his assertive personality tended to drive most of the herd members absolutely bonkers. This had consistently persisted until he eventually learnt to keep his beak shut the hard way, opting to remain quiet and choosing not to speak up as a defense mechanism so that he could still find himself being accepted by the flyer pack. After all, the alternative of flying alone through the Mysterious Beyond for five whole Cold Times without any company was something far worse to Pterano than being unable to fully utilize his leadership skills.

"Hmph! Why complain about a situation that you cannot avert? Instead of whining about it, why not actively take the initiative to change your fate for the better?"

Pterano perked up, glancing around the area curiously when he realized that one of the flatbeak flyers was actually speaking to him directly, instead of muttering complaints behind his back — something which was quite a rarity these days.

He soon caught his culprit when he saw the flyer in question tapping his talons in an impatient manner below him. The speaker was a flyer of an unusual coloration — a dirty, bleached yellow that made him look like the same coloration of the damp sand that tended to be situated near the Big Water. The flyer appeared relatively young, looking to be about three to four Cold Times older than his nephews and nieces, appearing as though he was on the cusp of adolescence.

Still, Pterano couldn't help but gulp as he caught sight of the smaller flyer's menacing golden irises gleaming under the Bright Circle. "Say, I don't think I know you…" he muttered as he put one of his wingtip fingers up to his chin, rubbing his beak as he looked down at the newcomer with suspicious eyes.

An amused smirk crossed the youngling's face. "Well, of courseeee…" he drawled sarcastically, "I mean, this _is_ the first time we've met!"

Pterano didn't let his guard down at the flyer's attempt to lighten the mood, making sure to keep his vision locked firmly on the newcomer instead. "…and yet, somehow it appears that you knew of me beforehand," he rightfully pointed out.

"Hahaha! Of course I do!" The pterosaur's relatively high-pitched voice gave him an aura of childishness as compared to that of an adult flyer, causing Pterano to shake his head imperceptibly with a sigh. Having dismissed him as a threat and being thankful that this wasn't going to end up being another Rinkus and Sierra situation, Pterano was just about to shoo the little flyer away when the yellow youngling suddenly continued. His voice lowered by about two octaves, which had the effect of giving him a sinister tone as he spoke.

"It might have been a bit of a pain to dig up the details, but fortuitously I now know everything about the overzealous flyer who vowed to find the legendary _Stone of Cold Fire_ …"

The larger flyer's eyes went wide, those words physically hurting him. He puffed up his chest, immediately letting out an angered yell at the smaller flyer. "How dare you! Just who exactly do you think you are? Don't even try to talk to me about that wretched stone!"

After exhaling an angered huff, Pterano wasted no time in his retaliation and flew down to the ground, waving his wings dangerously in the same motion as he whirled onto the smaller flyer. "Not only did that lousy excuse of a 'stone' take everything from me, but to add insult to injury, the whole venture had been all for naught from the very start! It's gotten me nothing! Nothing except for a worthless dud that wound up being blown to miniature pieces, and a banishment of five Cold Times at the end of everything! Oh, the tragedy!"

"Exactly. I completely agree with your sentiment there."

Pterano whirled his head around as the flyer said that. Of every retort that he had expected to hear in return, a concessionary statement hadn't been one of them. Yet, in spite of his concurring words, the sarcastic tone and hidden anger in the flyer's voice alone was enough to catch Pterano's attention.

"But enough of chasing down worthless legends, eh?" the flyer murmured, "How about a legend which I for one know isn't simply mere folktale told underneath the Great Night Circle for the sake of telling a story that only hatchlings would buy?"

He seethed with anger at the eccentric flyer's words. "How about _you_ get away from my sight before I get really angry!" Pterano recognized the style of pragmatic speech that the young flyer was using — after all, he'd done the same to Rinkus and Sierra. Thus, he was very well aware on what the flyer was trying to do, and he wasn't going to have any of it.

"Oh, poor Pterano…" A lament that had a hint of mockery imbued in it accompanied a sigh as the flyer shook his head at the cold reception that he was getting from the larger Pterano. "You miss your nephew, don't you…?"

Pterano narrowed his eyes, glaring daggers at the mysterious flyer suspiciously. "How do you know about Petrie!?" He flexed his wings, questioning the flyer in a tone that practically demanded for an answer. "And why we're on the subject matter… just who are you, anyway?"

The small flyer remained unperturbed by Pterano's interrogation, instead choosing to shrug brazenly at his raised voice as he let out an amused cackle in response. "Who I am, as well as what my name is, doesn't really matter. It is an irrelevant piece of information, Pterano…" he replied in a dismissive manner before peering up and locking his golden eyes with those of the larger flyer's. "But as for your first question, I personally think the answer to that is rather rhetorical. I mean, who doesn't know the story of the five remarkable leaf-eaters who'd miraculously managed to overcome all the odds and take down Sharptooth himself?"

He carried on rattling straight from memory as the harsh light of the Great Circle high above the duo beat down unrelentingly upon the two flyers, "Who would have thought that a ragtag group of hatchlings consisting of a longneck, a threehorn, a swimmer, a flyer, and a spiketail would succeed in accomplishing the impossible? Truly, the unlikeliest of herds — one whose members managed to cross between different species…"

Pterano perked his head downwards when he noticed that the small flyer had hissed the last few words with pure venom in his voice. "Hey, be careful with that tone you've got there," he grumbled, "One of those dinosaurs is my nephew, in case you've already forgotten your own words!"

"Oh, Pterano… there's really no point in suppressing your anger and trying to act all nice, you know? I can feel the brunt of my insults getting to you." He shook his head with the trace of a hidden grin on his face when Pterano's momentary glare proved him right. "Or perhaps it's the anger of your unrighteous punishment that still seethes within you. Don't you want payback on the pesky ground dwellers who'd wronged you and your quest for your paradise?"

Pterano remained silent, causing the flyer to let out a brutal laugh before tilting his head up to Pterano with a gleam in his eyes. "There _is_ a way for you to circumvent your banishment, you know?"

He perked up at the perky newcomer's bold statement. "What did you just say? D-Do you… really mean that?" Pterano asked hesitantly, a slight tinge of disbelief creeping into his normally bold voice, afraid that if he got his hopes up too high, it would only hurt more when they ended up being shattered into pieces once again.

"Heh! You doubt me? Well, to be fair, you wouldn't be the first one…" he shrugged before clarifying. "What I speak of is a legend spoken of only under the stars. Yes, a legendary stone—"

"Why, you little… are you trying to mess with me!?" Pterano hollered, forcing the smaller flyer to indignantly hold out his wings as a countermeasure.

"Wait, wait, wait!" The yellow flyer flailed his wings, gesturing towards a rather irate Pterano to calm him down. "Don't jump the sky puffy just yet! I'm not talking about the Stone of Cold Fire, so calm down, sit back on your perch and listen to what I have to say!" Coughing as his voice turned hoarse from the yell, the flyer proceeded to clear his throat before continuing his speech as he started to pace up and down. "As I was saying before being rudely interrupted, said artifact is a legendary stone, one much tinier than the Stone of Cold Fire. A relatively miniscule sparkling stone, one that can even be held in your very own hand."

Pterano had an eyebrow raised at the flyer's monologue. "Say, you seem to know an awful lot about this, considering it's just a legend…" he commented bluntly, unfurling his wings at the observation. "Hold on… it's more than that, isn't it?" Pterano questioned, his body growing slightly tense as he began to feel uneasy.

A coarse laugh with a hint of pride emanated from the youngling. "Hah! To think that you caught me out so quickly. I'm rather impressed, Pterano." His eyes glistened in the sunlight as he straightened up, his voice lowering further to add to the uneasy atmosphere.

"Yes, I do indeed know more than I'm letting on," he said nonchalantly as if it was no big deal. "I have seen it with my own two useless eyes… the _Shiny Stone of Great Change!_ "

"The Shiny Stone of Great Change?" Pterano repeated after him, tilting his head and crest at an acute angle.

He nodded once in confirmation. "Yes, indeed. Don't you see the beauty of it, Pterano? That there exists something with the power to transform one into whatever species they so desire? Amazing, isn't it?" He leaned his head back, small bursts of laughter causing his body to shake. "There are multiple of these things, in fact, and I can spare one for you. To heck with your punishment, Pterano! You can forge an entirely new identity with the shiny stone! With it, you can waltz right into the valley and they'll never know that it's actually you!"

Pterano contemplatively strummed his fingers together. "Pardon me for the interruption, but this sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?" he asked with a cautious voice.

"Well, all you simply have to do is agree to my terms and conditions, and voilà! A stone will be yours to keep. Without the valley's watchful eye, you can finally be reunited with your darling nephew—"

Pterano snarled, interrupting the proposed offer before the flyer could get a single additional word out of his beak. "You've got some nerve to ask that of me! Pray tell, are you under the impression that I'm a fool who would get himself sweet-talked into doing exactly what you want as helplessly as a treestar that's at the mercy of the whims of the wind currents?"

The flyer youngling scratched his head. "Well, uh—"

"Because if you do believe that, then allow me to inform you that you're terribly mistaken," Pterano chastised, ensuring that he maintained his calm outer composure despite his rising anger within. "How dare you use my nephew's name to drag me into whatever scheme you want me involved in? Well, you can forget about it, young'un!"

"But…" the flyer tried to plead with him, but Pterano wasn't having any of it, stretching out his entire wingspan in an intimidating manner.

"Begone already! Shoo off!"

"Feh!" The flyer glared back, rather humiliated. "Just you wait! You'll regret this, Pterano…"

"Yeah, yeah." Pterano mumbled back as the young flyer took flight and left his perch. "Good riddance to you, young pest."

When the flyer was no longer in his sight, he let out a heaved sigh of relief. Pterano was remiss to admit that there had been a small part of him, deep down in his heart, that had been tempted by the flyer's offer to cut his punishment short.

" _Petrie, your mother's right," Pterano had said, turning to his small nephew to stop the distraught flyer from objecting further to his punishment on his uncle's behalf. He refused to let Petrie get dragged into something that was his own fault. "We must all be accountable for our actions, much like how the valley is holding me accountable for mine right now."_

 _Petrie's beak quivered as he heard those words. "Me will miss you, uncle…" he admitted softly, using a wing to wipe away stray tears._

" _Do not fret, Petrie. I promise you that I'll be fine. And when five Cold Times have passed, I shall return to the herd and prove that I can truly be a trustworthy flyer who can lead other dinosaurs," he reassured his nephew with a jovial smile despite his impending punishment. "I just know that there is much that I can contribute to the valley herds if given the chance. But I'm afraid that that chance will have to wait." Pterano leaned down and wrapped his wings around Petrie, hugging his sniveling nephew to console him for one final time._

" _U-Uncle Pterano…" Petrie looked up, blinking away stray tears from his eyes as he looked up at his uncle. "Me guess… this is goodbye…"_

 _That simple gaze alone spoke volumes to Pterano. The longing in Petrie's brown eyes made it clear that the young flyer knew that this would be the last time that he would ever lay his eyes on his uncle for a long, long time. Pterano subsequently tightened his grip on Petrie, whispering one final, fond farewell to his nephew._

" _Oh, dear Petrie… I will miss you too…"_

As he recalled the loving embrace which he had shared with his young nephew two Cold Times ago, Pterano knew right there and then that he'd made the right choice in refusing the flyer. He knew that despite everything that the flyer offered, Petrie would be devastated if his uncle had resorted to his old ways just for a shot to reunite with him before his banishment was over. It would defeat the whole purpose of his punishment, and his well-mannered nephew almost certainly wouldn't accept a reunion in such a manner, despite how much he wanted to see his uncle. He imagined that Petrie would be distraught if he ever realized that his uncle had pulled a stunt like this out of pure selfishness.

Pterano was so wrapped up in his relief that he didn't see the flyer from earlier eyeing him from above with a rather nasty snarl, quite unhappy by the rejection that he'd been handed.

* * *

 _Look at that Pterano, looking so overjoyed at stomping over my kind proposal. Hmph! Who needs him_ , the flyer thought.

It was regrettable, but only a minor hindrance to his plans at worst. He would just amend his plans a little by tinkering around with a few minute details. Besides, Pterano would come crawling back to him sooner or later anyway.

But as of right now, he didn't require the services of a flyer like Pterano. He already had more than enough allies under his wing. In addition, he didn't actually need to recruit the flyer for a cause that he knew was basically nothing but a wild goose chase.

And why was that? The answer was elementary, of course — because _he_ had been the one who had engineered said wild goose chase in the first place, rather much like the conversation which he had expertly engineered by redirecting the questions until they'd arrived at the question that he wanted.

Sure, redirecting the flow of a conversation sounded like it would be the specialty of a swimmer, given that the species could generate small currents and waves as they paddled about in the water. But who was to say that flyers, with their flapping wings causing mild eddies in the winds, couldn't redirect the flow of a conversation as well?

As a matter of fact, it was well known that flyers were the masters of spreading messages rapidly and widely. If there was any juicy rumor or gossip somewhere out there in the Mysterious Beyond, chances were that the various flyers were the reason that the news had ended up spreading like wildfire across migratory herds.

Yes, very much like the chain reaction that he'd most deliberately started up. He grinned as he glanced towards the ground to see the flyers down below still chatting engrossingly about his prior conversation with Pterano.

"Pssst…" A flyer hissed to another flyer next to him. "Did you hear those two fliers talking? From what I could hear, this random flyer said that there's actually a way to change between species!"

"Hah!" the second flyer laughed. "I'm calling spiketail dirt on that one! That sounds like hogwash that some yellowbelly made up!" he snorted.

"B-but…" The voice lowered to a whisper, one that forced him to crane his neck downwards to hear, "what if it's true?"

"Get real, ya nitwit! Only hatchlings would believe in dumb rubbish like this! This whole thing's utter nonsense, and you know it! The flyer that Pterano's talking to is even crazier than he is!"

"Hmhmhmhmhm!" The flyer chortled to himself, a harsh grating quality embedded into the cruel laugh. "I'm afraid that my plan will come to fruition… with or without you. Of course, I would prefer if you of all dinosaurs witness the end, but whatever. I have my ways of securing your help…" he mused as he shot a final passing glance toward Pterano before flying away and leaving him in the dust.

"But you will pay rather dearly for disrespecting me, and I'll be sure to return the favor… by using your precious little nephew."

He veered to the left, squinting his eyes as he tried to look out for the valley. Unlike most other flyers, he was unable to use the flash of vibrant green from the lush vegetation of the valley as a visual cue to the valley's location. Hence, he instead looked out for the telltale sharp peaks of the mountains that surrounded the Great Valley.

The same valley which housed those leaf-eater kids, that special herd of seven.

Those damned kids.

Truth be told, he himself hadn't believed the stories when the initial rumors of them had first spread across the Mysterious Beyond five cold times ago. It didn't help that the stories were mostly butchered retellings that had told him virtually nothing of use.

But then again, the same could be said of the species-changing stone… the very same one which he now possessed a multitude of.

"'It's only a myth, you fool,'… that was what all those naysayers had said right to my face. Ahahaha! Well, who's laughing now? Who's laughing _now_ , you imbeciles!?"

Laughing at the absurdity of it all helped to pass the time. Before he even knew it, he was already at his destination.

The Great Valley.

Once he was within the vicinity of the valley, the flyer made haste in scoping out his targets. An easy task when all he had to do was look out for a group of children with varying species. He'd spotted them very quickly and proceeded to hide himself by perching on a branch poking out of the rock cliff, making himself comfortable as he eavesdropped from above.

A small issue did bother the flyer though. Although the tales that he'd heard spoke of seven children, he could only spot five of them at the moment. Nevertheless, he simply shrugged the discrepancy off for now… since the two which he _did_ want to focus on were there.

"Petrie! It looks like you are going to be 'it' for our game of hide-and-seek today! You are, you are!"

The flyer had to admit that he cocked his head when that unusual style of speech was the first sentence that his ears was able to discern from the group. It was frankly amusing how quickly the tones of conversation had shifted. Even with young kids and their relative innocence, you'd be hard pressed to hear a carefree sentence like that in the Mysterious Beyond.

The whole tone of the sentence reeked of innocence. Perhaps it was fitting that it was the small swimmer who'd said those words.

"Wh-what? You want me be seeker!?"

The yellow flyer raised an eyebrow when he heard a second dissenting opinion from the group. "Really?" the longneck asked the swimmer, "You want Petrie to be the seeker? Um, I don't really know about that…"

From his vantage point, he was able to observe that the longneck's body language had changed ever so slightly from the swimmer's proposal, made even more obvious by his own apprehensive comments. The longneck's legs appeared more rigid, making the dinosaur appear rather tensed up. A smirk crossed the flyer. _That longneck's nervous_ , he deduced.

And sure enough, he was right. The longneck proceeded to add on to his question with a worried remark. "You know, Petrie is very good at being 'it'," the longneck observed, shifting his neck towards a small flyer, "He's a flyer, he naturally has an advantage. Maybe we should have someone else be the seeker instead."

"Me already know me have advantage in hide-and-seek, but me certainly like that!" The flyer—Pterano's nephew—called out to the longneck with a voice that had a hint of mischievousness in it. "After all, it make game fun for me!"

"Fun for you, but what about us?"

The flyer watched in silence as the longneck and flyer bantered back-and-forth, subtly filing away the young Petrie's name. He hadn't actually believed Pterano when the flyer had unintentionally blurted out his nephew's name earlier, but to hear another dinosaur refer to him as Petrie pretty much confirmed that it was indeed the name of Pterano's nephew.

"Hah! Bring it on!" An arrogant taunt caused him to shift his gaze onto a snobby threehorn. "I bet you can't find my hiding place before time's up, Petrie!"

"But, Cera…" the swimmer whined in Petrie's defense, "Petrie is very good at being finding others when it comes to hide-and-seek. You should know that. You should, you should."

At those words, the threehorn promptly scowled down at the small swimmer from earlier. "Yarghhhhh! Come on, whose side are you on, Ducky!? I don't care if he's good, Petrie can't possibly beat _me_!" she boasted with a confident smirk.

The hidden flyer felt his beak rising in vicious glee upon hearing the threehorn's remark. With that, he now knew that the swimmer went by Ducky. Now _this_ was certainly useful knowledge to have.

 _So… Ducky and Petrie, eh? Nice to know. Very nice to know indeed…_

He held his head high as he let out a vicious cackle, armed with the knowledge that he now had. From what he could gather from their interactions, Ducky was the swimmer and Petrie was the flyer. Amazingly, with the exception of Petrie, that was the first time he'd managed to get a name of any of them — all the tales that he'd heard omitted the identities of the dinosaurs who were part of the fabled group.

Just as he was about to gloat inwardly at his victory, the flyer suddenly felt threatened, a sense of foreboding rising up within him out of instinct. The feeling felt almost as though someone was strangling him by the scruff of his neck.

Straining his neck as he leaned forward, the flyer roamed his eyes around before noticing why he felt that way. His beak fell open in surprise when he spotted that one of the five who he'd painstakingly scoped out had unfortunately also managed to spot the sinister flyer perched on the top of the rock wall above.

"Uummfhhh!"

A growl left his beak as the spiketail let out a warning bellow to warn the others of the uncanny flyer spying on them from above. That observant little pest was going to ruin everything!

But fortunately for him, the flyer quickly realized that it was the least problematic of the five who had managed to notice his presence. As a result, he simply watched from above as the spiketail on the ground kept on futilely gesturing his neck up towards him.

"Found you! Yep, yep, yep!"

There was an audible giggle from the tiny swimmer below as she struggled to hold in her laughter after tagging the spiketail. "Hee hee hee! You should not have given away your position like that, silly! Nope, nope, nope! And to think that I am not even the seeker!" she shook her head, amused by the whole affair. "You have got to be more careful than this, Spike. If I was Petrie, you would have been done for. You would, you would!"

Two narrowed golden eyes focused on the small swimmer below wagging her finger in a lecturing-like motion to tease the spiketail. It appeared that luck was on his side. "Stupid spiketail…" he muttered as the spiketail continually grunted up in his general direction, despite getting himself caught out from his hiding place by doing just that. It seemed that the game had escaped the spiketail's focus in his single-minded pursuit of revealing the mysterious flyer that he'd spotted.

That said, the flyer perceived that he was beginning to cut it close. He was very fortunate that the spiketail was unable to vocalize his thoughts, but to wish for a miracle twice was unfeasible.

He knew that more than anyone.

Yes, now was certainly the time for him to go. He definitely wasn't going to throw everything that he'd worked for away in one fell swoop by getting himself caught at this critical juncture. Not when the spoils for his grand scheme were finally beginning to bear tree sweets.

His glorious dream was so close to becoming a reality. So very tantalizingly close.

"You should be honored, dear Ducky and Petrie…" the flyer triumphantly said, his eyes never leaving his two targets even as he ceased his reconnaissance mission and soared back up into the sky.

"…for the both of you are the chosen harbingers of _my_ new Mysterious Beyond! Heheheheheh!"

As he left the jutting peaks of the Great Valley behind him, the yellow flyer only gave one final ominous warning for things to come, his voice turning deep as his sinister words echoed faintly across the dry Warm Time wind.

" _The specter of death looms upon us all_ …"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

First off, a happy early 30th anniversary to The Land Before Time! :D This would be going up exactly one month before the original film turns thirty years old!

Now I've certainly said this before, but I used to—and still do—lurk the Land Before Time fanfiction archive. A lot. From there, I'd observed that there are two fandom-specific plots that are quite popular and thus have been written quite a few times in various different stories.

First is the "lone human winds up in the LBT world" concept, made popular by _The Land Before Time Retold_ series (it's at least the most famous/popular one anyway) — with the trope being extremely popular a few years ago, even though these stories seemed to have tapered off recently.

Next is the "Gang turn into Sharpteeth" dark fics, best exemplified by _The Seven Hunters_ and its sequels. These have certainly become quite the popular trend to write, with quite a few stories following behind its footsteps (at least the darker undertones part) for these past couple of years.

Despite those two fan-favorite plots seemingly being very different, I'd noticed that they primarily share one thing in common — an unusual out-of-this-world, earth-shattering experience from someone's point of view. Which now leads me to my point — I don't think I've actually read a LBT transformation-based story that isn't about a human turning to a dinosaur, or a flattooth (*cough* usually our beloved Gang *cough*) turning into a sharptooth.

At least, that was until the Gang of Five forum recently started up a roleplay with this _exact_ same concept. Um, oops? Well, I'd already drafted up this story when they chose to start it up, so I can't really throw all my work into the garbage, now can I? But with the exception of that, species transformation is quite a wealth of untapped potential, so I shall try my utmost best to make this story a success. :)

Anyway, I better address this at the start and quickly get it out of the way — this story will eventually be a Ducky/Petrie fic, as the swimmer and flyer duo is my personal pet LBT pairing (feel free to judge me :p), and there really aren't a lot of stories featuring said pairing. That being said, please don't let it turn you off the story if you aren't a fan, as I'll be going for something different instead of the usual fluff that this pairing would normally imply due to the nature of this story.

And yes, I know I did say that the fic will try to break the mold and be different from others… yet a magical artifact much like the Stone of Cold Fire appears to be the catalyst of the whole premise yet again. Yeah, bite me. I need a crutch for this to work, so allow me this one leeway, alright?

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts in the reviews, but until then, once again, here's wishing an early happy thirty years to The Land Before Time!


	2. Arrival of the Swimmers

**Chapter 2: Arrival of the Swimmers**

Something that was treasured by the leaf-eater residents of the Great Valley was how _routine_ everything was.

Now, that might not be something that seemed like it would be taken for granted, but the many farwalkers who roamed the Mysterious Beyond felt otherwise. Unlike the unpredictable and unforgiving Mysterious Beyond, the dinosaurs who resided in the valley were sheltered from their natural predators and thus could afford to let themselves lapse into a constant—if predictable—routine style of life.

But to the valley inhabitants, life being predictable was a good thing. Sure, it was boring, but the monotony that they faced was an acceptable compensation to most of them, who would greatly prefer a stable life to one of excitement and high risks.

…yes, _most_ of the valley. Not all of them. Because as it went with every group, there were always a few outliers whenever one tried to generalize them. In this case, the blatant exceptions to the norm were the young children who were enjoying a game of hide-and-seek on this afternoon.

"Ready or not… here me come!"

The flyer who'd made the announcement, an eccentric Pteranodon who went by the name of Petrie, darted his eyes all around as he flew high into the air and scouted for his hiding friends. Petrie was a young flyer, the runt of the litter in a family that consisted of five flyer children. He was hence the meekest of his brothers and sisters as a result, something which did bother Petrie quite a bit, as it had resulted in the flyer becoming something of a joke between his siblings.

But unlike his more judgmental siblings, his friends were much more accepting and kind towards him. They held no gripes with his personality or flight patterns. And thus, they were much more fun to have around when it came to playing games and letting Petrie enjoy himself.

Without feeling the tiniest shred of shame, Petrie had to admit that hide-and-seek was one of his favorite games. As a flyer, he had an intrinsic advantage over his other friends when it came to this specific activity — whether his role was designated as hider _or_ seeker.

"Hm… me think me spot Littlefoot!" Petrie declared as he spotted a flash of brown trying to remain still behind a tree.

That would undoubtedly be Littlefoot, a brown-colored longneck with a cream underbelly who was the undisputed leader of the group. While Cera would sometimes claim otherwise, no one usually bought her protests for long when the group found themselves caught up in the heat of the moment.

Those situations always forced Littlefoot to take charge. And take charge he did, usually in a most magnificent fashion. Always perpetually optimistic, the gang could count on Littlefoot to make a rational decision and helm the front whenever things got rough. His encouraging, vigor-filled words often motivated the others in their many misadventures.

Making a note as to where Littlefoot had made himself scarce, Petrie then swerved away, rapidly changing directions to look for the others. It was better to let Littlefoot think that he hadn't been spotted yet — as the others would seek out better hiding spots the instant the first hider was found, after all. With a cheeky grin, Petrie sought to find all of the gang before they even realized that he was on to them.

A slight shaking of a treestar bush caught Petrie's eye. Further analysis revealed a sharp horn trying to remain hidden under the cover of the shrub. No doubt that the owner of the horn was Cera, a threehorn who was cautious, easily angered, and always ready to dish out a sarcastic insult at a moment's notice.

But Petrie had to admit that she'd definitely mellowed out compared to the first time they met. Back during their initial trip to the valley, she had been actively malicious towards him and the others. These days, Cera had changed quite a bit, turning from the antagonistic jerk she once was into a stubborn, albeit loyal friend who Petrie could always count on giving her friends a healthy dose of reality whenever she was agitated, something which happened rather often considering Cera's species and uptight personality.

Petrie lifted his left wing up to drift to his right, the flyer quickly spotting a very obvious dark green spot among the sweet bubble bush as he performed the maneuver. It wasn't really a surprise to see the gang's most voracious eater, Spike the spiketail, choosing to hide in a place where he could simultaneously partake in his favorite hobby at the same time — gobbling down food. Which in this case, said food constituted his hiding place, the very treestars around the sweet bubble bush that he was supposed to be using as cover to hide.

He cocked his head in confusion as Spike tried to inconspicuously munch on a treestar snack. If Petrie's hadn't already spotted Spike before this, then he would have most certainly been able to catch the spiketail out by simply listening to the sound of Spike's teeth gnashing against the fibrous texture of his afternoon snack. A cavity in the vegetation was slowly forming from the amount of treestars that Spike was shredding with his teeth, making his hiding place obvious.

In the end, Petrie shrugged before rolling to the left, leaving the lunching Spike behind. Food was always on Spike's mind first and foremost… the spiketail's utmost priority, despite how little sense it made at times.

Now, there was only one member that Petrie had left to locate — Ducky, his bubbly swimmer friend.

 _Now, where would Ducky be hiding_ , Petrie asked to himself while scanning his eyes around the area. The problem was that Ducky happened to be significantly smaller than the other three—the swimmer about Petrie's own size—which made spotting her a lot tougher since she was able to camouflage herself much more easily as compared to her larger-sized friends.

Good for her. Not good for Petrie though, especially as he happened to be in it to win the game since he'd already found everyone else… with the exception of the swimmer.

Petrie spent quite some time looking all over the area to no avail, still being unable to spot Ducky. By now he found himself nervously wondering if the others will lose patience should he take too long to find Ducky, since his current strategy was to catch them all in a single pass so that he could keep their guards down. But on the flip side, if he couldn't find Ducky soon he would end up losing the whole game as his friends would call a time-out and claim that Petrie hadn't been able to spot a single one of them.

He could prevent this by simply locating one of the others first, but that would put Ducky on alert, and she was already hard enough to find at the moment. Eventually, Petrie decided to chance it, opting to soar higher into the sky to give himself wider coverage. While this made Ducky harder to spot as the swimmer was already small enough as it is, at the very least Petrie would be able to track her down to an approximate location, his eyes being able to cover a larger range compared to when he hung low.

Still, try as he might, Petrie wasn't able to find the hiding swimmer as easily as all his other friends. He strained his eyes, looking carefully all over the general vicinity, and yet Ducky continued to elude him. But Petrie remained unperturbed by this turn of events. He had a determined expression on his face, his beak widening slightly out of frustration as he made up his mind to take this setback as a challenge that he would undertake.

He firmly resolved to himself that he would absolutely catch out Ducky, even though the task at hand was surprisingly challenging. In all seriousness, Petrie found himself racking his brains as to where Ducky could've possibly kept herself hidden.

A brief flash of green submerged among aqua blue finally gave him the answer that he was seeking. _Aha! Nice try… but me gotcha, Ducky!_ Petrie chuckled with glee as he finally managed to locate the well-hidden swimmer. _But me have to say, that good hiding place…_

And with that, all four of them had been caught out by his watchful eye. Yes, only four. Normally Petrie would have to scout out two more dinosaurs to conclusively win the game of hide-and-seek between them, but he'd gotten lucky today and managed to get away with the win due to the absence of the additional two.

One was a friendly purple Sharptooth named Chomper that the leaf-eaters of the gang had helped hatched about four Cold Times ago, which had resulting in him becoming a fierce and loyal friend despite having a very different diet from them. The other was a quick-witted fast runner with an outstanding pink coloration known as Ruby, who'd come down to the valley with Chomper in hand less than a few Night Circle cycles ago from a place in the Mysterious Beyond known as Hanging Rock.

Together they formed up the titular _Gang of Seven_ — a group of seven dinosaur children of various species who banded together through thick and thin.

Petrie hummed a merry tune as he swooped down, relishing the rare opportunity of coming out on top, something which rarely ever happened thanks to his siblings. Despite everything, Littlefoot had been completely right about his earlier protests with regards to having him be the seeker. A flyer truly _did_ have an unfair advantage in searching for others when it came to this game.

He made sure to pick out a very disgruntled Cera first — spotting her hiding place first was deliberate on Petrie's end. After flying away from a very mad threehorn, he flew over to a large tree and landed atop of the sauropod hiding behind it, causing Littlefoot to sigh when Petrie chuckled from the top of his head.

Spike was next. Amusingly, the spiketail didn't care at being found, and showed no visible reaction even as Petrie landed next to him. Instead, the spiketail lunged forward and munched on his next mouthful of treestars.

Petrie could only shrug at Spike's indifference and complete the game. Last but not least was his good friend Ducky.

Oh, he had definitely saved the best for last! It was certainly the most creative hiding spot of the lot… he'd give her that much!

He veered towards the river stream, cooing down at the water below. "Nice try, Ducky!" Petrie called out to the still water with a triumphant smile. "But me saw you hiding in there, around those water greens!"

Now _that_ was a hiding place that had been incredibly hard to spot. Truth be told, if Ducky wasn't of such a bright green coloration that even the deep blue of the water wasn't able to mask her, Petrie might have missed her altogether.

With a giggle, Ducky jumped out of the water and landed on the riverbank, shaking off drops of water clinging to her body as Petrie landed next to her. "Oh, you got-ed me. You did, Petrie, you did!" she commended her friend as the others began to make their way towards the two.

"Yeah." Littlefoot added on to Ducky's statement, the disappointment of losing the game forgotten as he smiled at Petrie. "Congrats on winning, Petrie. You've earned it!"

Petrie beamed at the heap of praises that his friends bestowed on him. "Hooray! Me win game!" he said with a wide smile, the flyer whooping for joy as he leapt up into the air, joyously spinning around in a loop-de-loop that went a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees. "Me so glad that me flyer. Make it real easy for Petrie to win hide-and-seek game," Petrie admitted, gleefully chuckling at his victory.

"Hmph!" Cera raised her head high and brandished her horn at Petrie, quickly shutting the flyer down from making any further disparaging comments out of an innate fear of retaliation from Cera. "Don't count this win as yours just because of your species!" she grumbled with a haughty voice. "I bet that if _I_ was the seeker, I'd be able to find all of you as well!"

Her smile turned slowly predatory, causing Petrie to gulp nervously as he took solace in the fact that he was now high atop a tree and thus out of Cera's reach. "Hee! I'd simply bash down every hiding spot in sight until you're all forced to come out! Now _that's_ an idea!" Cera laughed, jerking her head—and horn—forward, her mind vicariously enjoying the mental images of smashing various things down. "Alright, now I demand an immediate rematch! I'm gonna kick all of your butts!"

"But I think that is enough hide-and-seek for today, Cera. I do, I do."

Petrie heaved a sigh as Ducky managed to alleviate the tension, something which he in particular found especially hard to pull off with Cera, especially when she felt like being a sore loser. "Me agree with Ducky!" he hastily seized the opportunity to give his agreement with the consensus to hopefully outvote Cera's proposal.

Luckily, with the exception of Cera, the rest quickly caught on to the ruse. "I agree with Ducky and Petrie as well," Littlefoot added as Spike slowly nodded.

"Littlefoot…" Cera muttered dangerously.

Sensing that Cera was about to blow her top, Littlefoot quickly tried to justify his stand. "Besides, it won't be much fun to have a game without Chomper and Ruby joining in. Look at how quickly Petrie managed to catch us. Maybe we can wait until another day?" the longneck counter-suggested.

Seeing that she was completely trounced four-against-one, Cera decided to call it quits and cut her losses while she could still maintain some degree of pride. "Hmph! Fine then!" she relented with a haughty huff, making it clear that this conversation wasn't over. "Fine, I'll wait for Chomper and Ruby! But the next time we play hide-and-seek, I'm definitely gonna beat all of you!"

"Hahaha! Now that's my girl! Defiant to the end just like a true threehorn!"

Petrie almost flinched back and fell from the tree branch at the booming voice that'd just popped up from behind the gang. "Eeep! Cera dad here!" he cried, nervously letting out a chuckle and praying that Topps hadn't heard the vitriolic banter between him and Cera.

Fortunately for Petrie, Littlefoot cut in and saved the flyer from being the center of attention should Cera decide to tell on him. The longneck bowed his head respectfully, greeting Topps amiably. "Hello there, Mr. Threehorn."

Unlike Littlefoot, Cera had a much more different reaction to the surprise entrance of her father. "Daddy?" she acknowledged her father while casting a suspicious gaze at him. She knew him well enough by now to know that he wouldn't interrupt their games for petty affairs. "Alright, what is it you need from me this time?" she quipped, the young threehorn getting straight to the point.

Topps nodded his head with the barest flicker of a smile, knowing that his intelligent daughter had figured out that he wasn't here to strike up a mere chat. "Come now, Cera. The time for games with your friends is up. Right now we've got a meeting to get to." His eyes briefly hovered to Littlefoot, the elder threehorn narrowing them ever so slightly before breaking eye contact with the longneck. "And if you want someone to blame for this meeting, then aim your horns at Littlefoot's grandparents on my behalf, why don'tcha?"

"Great…" Although Cera's words signified her concurrence with her father's demands, the accompanying eye-roll told a very different story. "Another meeting…"

Topps turned his head back, not one to miss the sarcasm in his daughter's reply. "You and me both, Cera. You and me both…"

Cera actually stopped in her tracks as her father's words reached her ears. She was genuinely surprised to hear her father hiss at the thought of joining a valley meeting, as he was normally one of the most active participants when it came to them.

To actively show disdain in attending this specific one… now that was intriguing.

She wasn't the only one to notice this unusual behavior, though. As Cera recovered from the shock and marched away in tow with her father, Ducky beckoned Petrie downwards from his perch. The small flyer made haste, landing on the ground without any worries since he knew that there was no longer a need to hide from Cera now that she was gone.

"There must be something interesting about this meeting if Mr. Threehorn is unhappy with it," Ducky whispered into Petrie's ear. "There must, there must."

Petrie concurred with a hushed voice. "Me agree! Cera's dad always like to yell during meeting. Why he no like this one then?"

"Want to listen in on the meeting to find out, guys?" Both Petrie and Ducky nearly jumped when Littlefoot lowered his head to join their not-so-secret conversation, the eager longneck having the same desire to quench his thirst of burning curiosity.

"Sure thing, Littlefoot! I like this idea… oh, yes, yes, yes!"

"Me second that!"

"Mmm-humph!"

Unlike Cera's prior proposal to continue the game, Littlefoot's current plan to join the meeting was unanimous among them all. Not that it was much of a surprise, given that butting in when they weren't welcome was something which they were quite infamous for.

* * *

And thus, with the various dinosaurs this time gathering in front of the valley's largest tree sweet tree, the Great Valley commenced yet another meeting…

…with four additional participants sneakily listening in from the top of a hill surrounding the area.

"Look! There's Grandpa and Grandma!" Littlefoot gestured to the others with his neck, a broad smile on his face as he looked down at the towering figures that were his grandparents.

"Ohhhh, me see Mom!" Petrie excitedly hopped, unintentionally kicking the top of Littlefoot's head with the gesture, much to the longneck's displeasure.

Littlefoot winced from the glancing blow. "Petrie!" he scowled.

"Me sorry, Littlefoot!" The flyer flashed an apologetic look upon looking down and seeing Littlefoot's upset expression, mentally making a note that he shouldn't make any sudden movements while perched atop his friend's head.

"I can see my mama too! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky turned towards Spike, gently moving his head with her head so that the spiketail could spot his adoptive mother as well. "Do you see our mama, Spike?"

Spike nodded his head in confirmation to Ducky's query, happy to catch a glimpse of the swimmer who he called his mother.

Before any of them could make any further comments from their vantage point, a sudden cough abruptly came from behind the four, signifying that someone was behind the four children. This "someone" immediately followed up with a gruff, dry voice.

"Hey! Just what do y'all think you're doing here?"

The four eavesdropping dinosaurs jumped at the sudden intrusion. As they turned around, sheepish at being caught out, they all quickly made up excuses as to why they were here. Said excuses were about to leave the tip of their tongues—except for the ever-silent Spike, of course—until they actually laid their eyes on the one who had just spoken…

…a giggling yellowish-orange threehorn.

Their indignant cries were made in unison. "C-Cera!?"

"Hahahahaha!" Cera hollered, the threehorn switching back to her normal voice as she resumed her laughter at her partly-awestruck, partly-annoyed friends. "You all should have seen the looks on your faces when you thought that I was one of the grownups!" She had to take a moment to catch her breath before adding a final remark, "It was priceless, I tell you! Hehehehe!"

There was a moment of silence after Cera finished where the only thing that could be heard was the sound of her resounding laughter. Littlefoot eventually broke the ensuing silence, looking at the threehorn with a disgruntled face. "That prank wasn't very nice, Cera…"

Cera ignored Littlefoot's glare, strolling towards the longneck with a mischievous smirk decorating her own visage. "Ah, whatever. Just relax, Littlefoot. Can you blame me for wanting a little payback after what Petrie did to me earlier?"

"B-but you sound-ed so different, Cera!" Ducky pointed out, her beak dropping in amazement. "You did, you did! You almost sounded like Mr. Clubtail, actually…"

Cera appeared quite proud of herself as she heard that comment. "Well, it took me quite a bit of practice to learn that impression, let me tell you." For a brief moment, she dropped her usual arrogant face and shot her swimmer friend a genuine smile. "But I'm glad that unlike Littlefoot here—" she ignored the frown on Littlefoot's face, "—at least you liked it, Ducky."

Ducky cheerfully flashed her teeth. "Oh, that is no problem at all, Cera. Nope, nope, nope!"

"But some of us no like it!" Petrie complained atop of Littlefoot's head, the flyer still shivering from the scare he'd received when he honestly thought that he would be getting into trouble.

"Ah, be quiet…" Cera huffed, retorting to the flyer in jest.

Petrie sighed, knowing that responding to a statement like that would get them both nowhere. Thus, he wisely changed the subject. "But why you here, Cera?" the flyer asked out of curiosity, tilting his head slightly as he glanced between Cera and Topps. "Me thought your dad come earlier so that you listen to valley meeting? So why you up here?"

Cera stepped closer to the edge of the cliff, looking down to gaze squarely at her father, together with her adoptive mother Tria down below. "Well…" she started, "my daddy happened to see the four of you hiding up here." She stopped momentarily so that the remainder of the gang had a few moments to futilely feign ignorance at their blatant attempts to listen into the meeting. Snorting as they did so, Cera continued on, "Daddy pretty much just gave up and let me go so that I could join all of you."

"Well, that was very nice of your daddy. Yep, yep, yep."

Grandpa Longneck's composed voice then broke through the clearing, shutting down any further chatter from both above and below. "Everybody, please quiet down. The valley meeting is about to commence."

Littlefoot enthusiastically smiled at his grandfather. "Guys," he hushed at the rest of the group, "It's starting!"

Grandpa continued on when the ambient noise around him reached an acceptable level. "Firstly, we would like to announce to all members of the valley some very important news." There were excited murmurs from both the crowd situated below and the children looking down from above, their combined voices slowly rising in amplitude as Grandpa Longneck's proclamation hyped them up for the news.

He raised his neck high before speaking, "Today, there is a large swimmer herd looking to take up residence, here in our Great Valley."

"Swimmers?" Littlefoot quipped, the longneck tilting his head and craning his neck forward to get a better view.

"Ohhh! That mean they just like Ducky!" Petrie commented with a gleeful smile, only for Cera to shoot the flyer an unimpressed glower.

"Yeah. Swimmers… just like Ducky. It's not as if _that's_ really obvious." The exaggerated eye-roll that she made out of exasperation—in what was pretty much known as a Cera trademark to the Gang—immediately after her words had left her mouth only served to further emphasize her frustration with Petrie's antics.

"A herd full of swimmers just like me and my brothers and sisters will be joining the Great Valley?" Ducky put a finger to her beak, tapping against it in contemplation. "Hmm, this sounds very exciting to me! Yes, yes, yes!" she nodded with a smile.

The buzzing finally quietened down when the crowd saw a well-built dark green swimmer wander forward with a confident strut. All eyes were on him as he walked underneath the pink tree sweet tree, bending his head forward with a small bow as he proceeded to take center stage.

"Greetings, oh wondrous and glorious Great Valley!" he addressed the curious onlookers, beginning his announcement with a stern and booming voice. "I must say, what a joyous occasion this is. I've heard many tales of this wonderful leaf-eater paradise, but this is the first time I've actually stepped foot in it." He puffed his chest out, slowly sweeping his lime green eyes around his surroundings. "And I must say… this place certainly lives up to its legend!"

"Well, I'm glad that you've have that impression." Grandpa Longneck leaned his neck down, a gentle smile adjourning the aging longneck. "After all, it is the reason we have so many farwalkers coming here."

The swimmer concurred with Grandpa Longneck by flashing the longneck a smile, absentmindedly wagging his tail about. "Same to you, longneck! I can certainly see why any leaf-eater would want to visit this place. But enough small talk, heh heh!" he chuckled to himself. "I don't think I've properly introduced myself to you folks yet."

Holding a hand to his chest, he closed his eyes and flashed a jovial smile to the crowd. "The members of the herd call me Geoffrey! Yours truly is the head of the migratory swimmer herd you see before you today! Very pleased to make your acquaintances, everyone!"

"Bah, just what we needed…" Topps muttered with a disgruntled scowl as the bipedal dinosaurs all around the threehorn began to applaud at Geoffrey's speech. "More darn swimmers…"

"Excuse me? That comment was uncalled for, Mr. Threehorn!" Ducky's mother, a dark green swimmer named Shoal, folded her arms and stared at Topps indignantly at his impertinent remark.

Topps shot a passing glance over to Shoal before driving his front foot into the ground, his annoyed expression shifting to an indifferent one where he tried to hide his irritation. "Bah, forget it! It's nothing, swimmer. Just me and my usual ramblings…" he mumbled under his breath.

"Now, Topsy… we've been through this before. You need to be nicer to others. You don't want to be a bad influence to Tricia, do you?"

Topps groaned when Tria called him out for his behavior. "Well, I… ah, forget it." He stumbled on his words before simply giving up when the pink threehorn gave him a condescending look that basically told him to relent.

"Now, now, Mr. Geoffrey," Grandpa Longneck wisely chose to take this opportunity to redirect the conversation before Topps could make any additional unsavory statements towards the swimmer. "I have a few questions for you. For starters, how long do you think you and your herd would be staying in the valley?"

Geoffrey placed a finger to his temple, tapping it against his head as he hovered his eyes downcast in thought. "That's a good one…" he murmured before letting his shoulders go slack, shrugging at his audience. "I don't really know myself, I must confess."

Before the dinosaurs around him could begin to gossip, he raised a finger into the air, hastily appending onto the end of his statement. "That being said, I think we'll stay until at least the Cold Time. That's about a few Night Circle cycles, I believe?"

"Absolutely right!" Skylar, who was better known around the valley as the gentle mother of a multitude of flyer younglings — Petrie included, confirmed Geoffrey's claim before anyone else could beat her to it.

Topps grunted, mumbling a curt remark as the dinosaurs around began to chatter excitedly among themselves. "I, uh, knew that… from the very start!" he ascertained in an uncertain voice.

That apprehensive tone was the sole reason why not one dinosaur bought into Topps' claim. "Right…" Skylar folded her wings, shaking her head with a knowing smile. "You actually knew that, Mr. Threehorn?" she questioned him skeptically.

"Bah, shut it." Topps fired back at the flyer, his displeasure slowly beginning to become obvious to the valley residents by this point.

…inclusive of the gang.

"I do not think that your daddy is happy right now, Cera." Ducky moved over to Cera's side out of concern as the tense threehorn silently watched her father seethe from above. "Oh, no, no, no…" the swimmer lamented when she saw herd leader Geoffrey appear confused as to why his apparent audience was more interested in the affairs of the elder threehorn as compared to him.

"He's been real mad ever since he first heard about this," Cera admitted. "I wonder what's bothering my daddy so much." She lowered her voice before looking at Topps again, "I mean, they're just swimmers…"

"Ah, pardon me for the interruption, ma'am."

Cera found herself about to shoot a snark-filled reply at being interrupted, her words only stopping right before they left the tip of her tongue when she suddenly realized that she didn't recognize the voice. The threehorn hobbled around at the realization, the others following suit, the meeting below quickly forgotten as they came face-to-face with a swimmer around Ducky's size.

He had a light green coloration, a similar shade of green to the color of pale and faded treestars that have fallen to the ground. But with the exception of that, his outward appearance wasn't really all that remarkable.

The most visually striking thing about him, however, was the body posture that he was currently adopting. The swimmer had his entire body weight supported on his front leg, causing him to lean forward as he tiptoed on the balls of his back foot so that he could retain his balance. His eyes glinted with mischief as he slowly started to grin, both of his arms firmly planted by his hips. Long story short, he was standing in a proud manner that was more befitting of a threehorn, the swimmer acting like he owned the place from the sheer outlandishness of his staunch posture alone.

There was dead silence as the group of leaf-eaters simply stared at the swimmer's sudden entrance. Eventually, Ducky broke the awkwardness by speaking up. "What is your name?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head.

"Glad you asked that!" he replied in a refined manner, the swimmer's style of speaking and tone of voice quickly grating on the gang. "I'm called Ferris!" he said, introducing himself with a palm to his chest.

"Ferris?" Littlefoot repeated after the swimmer.

"That unique name!" said Petrie.

"Why, thank you!" Ferris chirped. "I'm new to this valley, of course. Came over here with the herd, in fact," the swimmer said, shooting a glance over to Geoffrey standing by the tree down below. "And what about you?" he asked, quickly returning with a question of his own which was directed to the swimmer who'd first posed him a query.

"Well, I am Ducky!" she answered Ferris with a wide smile, adding on her usual trademark triple affirmation while nodding her head, "Yep, yep, yep!"

"Ducky? Now that's a sweet name," he complimented, breaking his pose from earlier to step towards Ducky. "Please to make your acquaintance, my pretty."

Ducky didn't miss the flirtatious remark, her cheeks tinting pink as she stuttered back an uncomfortable response. "U-um… okay?"

"You heard me!" Ferris' smile only grew wider, a sudden aura of confidence creeping onto his face as he continued to walk towards Ducky, stopping only approximately five paces in front of her. His face took on a contemplative expression as he mused out loud. "If I were to be honest with you, I was so enchanted by your beauty from the very instant I saw you…"

"What?" Ducky coughed, an onset of awkwardness rapidly surrounding the swimmer as quickly as the rushing torrents of the fast water. She nervously glanced towards Littlefoot and Petrie, who could only give a clueless look back to her in return. Still, it was starting to get apparent from the way Ducky was fidgeting that she felt uncomfortable by the sudden shift of focus on her.

But unfortunately for Ducky, she didn't realize that Ferris wasn't finished talking. With a flourish, he took a bow and completed his sentence.

"…that I simply _must_ propose to you!"

The gang's reaction to _that_ request was pretty much instantaneous.

"WHAT!?"

So much for having a perfectly normal day, it would seem. Because right now, it seemed that the status quo that the gang had been enjoying up till now looked to be pretty much dead, floating like a corpse along the flowing fast water.

* * *

Showdown time.

The yellow flyer licked his lips as he touched his talons down on the grassy plains of the Great Valley, feeling the soft blades of grass tickle his feet as he apprehensively eyed the place.

He took in a deep breath, momentarily letting himself relax after his long flight. It helped that the Great Valley itself was quite deserted, no doubt because of the meeting that was currently being conducted at this very moment halfway across the valley.

The flyer couldn't resist a snort at the very idea of a meeting. Did they really have to go to such lengths just to welcome a swimmer herd? In his opinion, the valley was so tasteless, so… gaudy. Did the dinosaurs who lived here really think that they were safe from sharpteeth just because they were members of a herd with large numbers?

Those spineless fools! That line of thinking couldn't be further from the truth… being in a herd was useless! Completely pointless!

And he was going to prove that, once and for all. The flyer cackled, lifting his head back as he reached for the tiny objects that were dangling around his neck like lucky charms. He held them up to his eye with a wing, admiring them both with genuine glee.

Two small shiny stones lay in his grip, the stones threaded through a vine that was fastened into a circular loop so that they could hang freely around his neck, which allowed him to carry them with him even in flight. He chuckled as he let go of them, feeling the loop of the makeshift necklace vines go taut as they returned to their original position.

The one drawback to wearing them like this was that the objects themselves were glaring — no doubt standing out from his body. If anyone in the know was able to see him now, they would quickly notice that he was wearing what appeared to be small pendants around his neck.

The species-changing stone.

It was a definite shame that he had to make such a huge detour, leaving the valley and making a seemingly unnecessary to-and-fro trip just to retrieve the stones and return back to the valley.

But the flyer had his reasons. He was extremely cautious when it came to this, not wanting to be seen with the shiny stones by anyone who didn't need to know. In fact, he had chosen not to take a calculated risk and forgone wearing a visible stone that he'd intended to bring to the valley after his meeting with Pterano, even if it meant that he had to take an extra return trip after scouting out the children just so that he could collect them from his stronghold.

And besides, his whole precaution had been well worth it in the end, since Pterano had managed to figure out the ruse even without the shiny stone hanging from his neck. The flyer narrowed his eyes warily at the memory. Truthfully, he really didn't need Pterano to get visual confirmation that the stones of legend were at the tip of his wings.

He tapped his talons against the ground impatiently. For now, he would just have to remain hidden until nightfall. When the Night Circle took the place of the Bright Circle in the sky — or more accurately, when he saw the stars above begin to shine, he would make his move.

Strolling towards the nearby stream, the flyer peered forward at the riverbank so as to look into his reflection on the surface of the water.

Or perhaps, he might be able to accelerate things by—

"Hey there!"

Panic momentarily flashed across the flyer's eyes when his thoughts were interrupted by the purple sharptooth who'd waved at him from behind. "Hello!" he greeted with a genuinely merry grin, one which seemed very out of place on a sharptooth's face. "I'm Chomper! Are you new to the valley?"

 _So those crazy rumors were true after all…_ The flyer took in a deep breath, feeling himself calm down as the oxygen reached his lungs. But before he could fire an annoyed retort back, someone else beat him to it.

"Chomper!"

The flyer watched in amusement as the sharptooth instinctively hung his head down upon hearing the unhappy cry from afar, one which came from a cross-looking fast runner that was sprinting towards the scene.

"You shouldn't sneak up on a poor unsuspecting dinosaur like that. Look at what you've done now, Chomper." She pointed a finger right at the remorseful sharptooth, never taking her stern eyes off of the sharptooth as she gently reprimanded him. "Oh dear! This flyer looks scared to death, scared to death he looks!"

The fast runner then held her hands to her hips, squarely focusing on the sharptooth. As a result, she missed the look of utter rage that the flyer himself showed towards her words.

 _How dare you…! Yo-you actually think a damn sharptooth child scares me?_ He seethed, glaring daggers at the duo. _Don't you dare underestimate me! What do you know!? I've endured much worse horrors than this!_

He couldn't prevent a vicious chuckle from escaping his beak. He had been forced to survive for many lonely Cold Times out in the Mysterious Beyond. Whatever "friendships" that he'd made were always out of necessity, and with the exception of one—and he'd hesitate to even call that one a friendship, more so a partnership—every other bond that he'd made was always torn asunder for one reason or another.

Just the way he wanted it. The advantage of having no close emotional bonds was that no one in the Mysterious Beyond would be able to have any influence over his actions. _No one._

And after he'd suffered alone for almost ten Cold Times, what would a mere ground-dweller sharptooth—not to mention one that he could simply fly out of range to avoid, no less—end up being worth to him?

Nothing… _nothing!_

"Hello…? Are you still there?"

The flyer blinked as he heard the sound of the fast runner snapping her fingers, quickly swirling his body towards his left at the fast runner's curious greeting.

She stopped snapping her fingers when she saw that she had managed to get his attention. "Oh, I'm so sorry! You kind of spaced out there, kinda spaced out there, you did," she said apologetically, finally noticing the annoyed look that he had plastered onto his face.

Instead of the nice reply that the fast runner must have been expecting from him after her humble apology, the flyer chose to react in a manner contrary to what she'd expected. "Thanks for the compliment, pal." He didn't dial down the sarcasm in his own response, instead cranking it up to eleven as he proceeded to shoot both the half-tooth and sharptooth a sour face.

Her expression immediately turned from that of a modest apologist to a somewhat annoyed look in the span of a single second. "Come on, there's no need to be so mean about it…" she groaned, crossly folding her arms in response.

The flyer sharply inhaled, taking in a deep breath of air as he debated on whether to escalate the argument. To be fair, he had been trying to keep his anger in check and kept under wraps, so if the fast runner had been able to tell from body language alone that he wasn't of the soundest state of mind, then that was very bad.

As a result, he retreated by verbally dialing back, defusing the situation instead of exacerbating it. "I guess you're right…" he conceded, shaking his head with a sigh. "I hope we meet again. You two… are an interesting bunch."

Before the two could reply to his statement, he swiveled around and strutted away from the two dinosaurs, walking on foot along the direction of the flowing river and leaving his ominous promise lingering in the air around them like an unpleasant stench.

"Hey!" the flyer could hear the sharptooth call after him. But instead of acknowledging Chomper, he simply grunted a noncommittal reply and continued walking along the river, not even sparing a single glance behind.

"Just ignore him, Chomper."

"But, Ruby! I think—"

Ruby interrupted Chomper, finishing the sharptooth's sentence for him. "…I think we've made him upset, made him upset we did!"

A reluctant pang of acceptance from Chomper could be clearly discerned after he heard Ruby's advice to dismiss the matter. "I guess you're right…"

Once the flyer heard the subsequent sigh that emanated from Chomper after Ruby had dissuaded the sharptooth from going after him, he could only resolutely continue his forward pace, inwardly glad that they had decided to leave him alone.

As it should be. It wasn't their time yet… not yet, at least.

He coyly grinned as he thought back to the two dinosaurs who he'd just interacted with. So these were the last two of the special seven dinosaurs who'd broken the species barrier. He hadn't expected to run right into them, but it wasn't going to be a drawback in the long run. This so-called Chomper and Ruby having knowledge of him would certainly be useful in the future, but as of now he wasn't going to jump the sky puffy.

He wished to focus on the immediate future, and he certainly wasn't going to let anyone or anything deviate his plans before he put them into motion. The flyer stopped walking at a bend in the river, a malicious smirk etched onto his face as he clutched onto the stones around his neck with a wing, hanging onto them like they were his lifeline.

Whoever would have thought that such a tiny stone could be such a life-changer? He for one certainly didn't, not even when he had first managed to acquire a whole cache of them with the help of an unusual acquaintance seven Cold Times prior. The reason for that was simple, of course — he'd initially been after the ability to switch species for a completely different reason.

As a result, he knew for a fact that the Great Valley wouldn't anticipate the true allure of the shiny stones either. So then, how would they react when he bestowed one of them to a hapless valley resident?

How would they behave? Would they change or still be the same dinosaur they once were?

The flyer had a sneaky suspicion that he already knew the answer to the question that he had just posed. For the record, his question was so rhetorical that even a dazed yellowbelly could respond with the right answer. It was as black and white as the world he could see around him.

And yet, despite all that, he still wished to execute the experiment just to prove his point. Yes, if one looked at it in a certain way, all of this was just a little experiment… a test for his poor unsuspecting victim.

Or if he wanted to be more precise, _victims_. In plural.

He clasped one of the two shiny stones in his hand, flipping the tiny object back-and-forth using the digits of his fingers in an almost flippant manner. If giving up two of these precious stones so he could observe the unfolding chaos was the price to pay so that he could be proven unequivocally right, with no way for anyone to ever debate him ever again, then he was perfectly willing to write them off as a loss.

After all, what was of much more importance to him was the end result. The flyer wanted his hypothesis proven right beyond any measure of reasonable doubt, substantiating that his personal view of how this miserable world worked was irrefutable, _once and for all._

That was all this whole gamble meant to him. Nothing more, nothing less.

And if he was forced to play with the lives of others just to make his point… then well, he'd most gladly oblige.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

The story begins in earnest with this chapter, as the previous chapter was more of a prologue — a preview of sorts for things to come. And what a preview it was! I wish to take this time to thank everyone for the reviews in the last chapter, especially as the consensus was everyone generally liked the concept.

So in this chapter, we have a couple of new faces, in addition to a cast of familiar ones. Like with other authors before me, I'll be giving Ducky and Petrie's mothers my own unique names so as to personify them more than in the sequel films. In this story, Mama Swimmer is named Shoal, the exact same name that I'd given her in _Five Stages of Grief_ , while Mama Flyer will be going by Skylar… even though I still firmly stand by the opinion that Rhombus' name for her—Volant—is still the coolest sounding name ever. :p

…

 **DiddyKF1:** Thanks for your encouragement! And if it's any consolation, I enjoyed reading through _Secret Love_ when it debuted last year! It's one of the few stories with this specific pairing that partially inspired the creation of this fic!

 **Keijo6:** I'm glad you enjoyed Pterano. It was tricky to balance his characterization, since I want him to change somewhat, yet still be close to the same flyer as he was at the end of LBT7, if a bit nicer. And yeah, I don't expect you to magically like this pairing. Even at times I flip-flop on whether I prefer to see Ducky and Petrie together (unlikely in canon as it stands) or with members of their own species.

 **Rhombus:** I'm glad you like my foray into the species-change genre! So here's to another fic of the species-change plot point which ended up being somewhat inspired by you, I guess, haha! Anyway, I especially liked how you inferred in your review that our oh-so-mysterious flyer has the desire to "get what he wants at all costs", because that's basically the gist of his inner monologue in this chapter!

…

So, will poor Ducky manage to escape from her very unusual plight? Furthermore, just what plan (the gist of it is obvious, but still) does this vicious flyer have concocted for our beloved dinosaurs? Well, you'll have to find out next time!


	3. One Abhorrent Admirer

**Chapter 3: One Abhorrent Admirer**

"I was so enchanted by your beauty from the very instant I saw you… that I simply must propose to you!"

There was a short silence as Ferris finished, although said tranquility didn't last very long.

"WHAT!?"

Every single one of the friends who were gathered around the area had articulated that single word in shock of what they'd just heard, with only two exceptions — Spike… for obvious reasons, and Ducky, who was too stunned to even utter a meep.

To say that Ducky was being put on the spot was a huge understatement. Her lower beak literally fell agape from the unexpectedness of Ferris' words. "Um… um… I am sorry. Wh-what did you just s-say?" she stuttered, the normally talkative swimmer at a complete loss of words for once.

Ferris quirked his head when he heard Ducky stumbling across her own sentence. "Well," he rubbed his ear, "I said that—"

Cera took one step towards Ferris, interrupting the smarmy swimmer before he could utter another word. "Don't you dare repeat that!" she yelled without restraint, losing control of her anger momentarily before taking in a deep breath and regaining her self-control. "We all heard what you said. Every last one of us heard your request," she continued in a slow voice, one which her friends knew meant that she was trying to restrain her rising anger. "And we don't like it, so quit it with your sappy pickup lines already!"

"Come on, now…" Ferris dejectedly shrugged towards the threehorn, despite repeated visible warnings from Littlefoot to hint at him not to get into a verbal spar with Cera. His voice had an abundance of arrogance embedded in it, although it appeared that Ferris himself was unaware of that little detail. "Was there anything wrong with what I said? I'm merely stating my thoughts…"

"Ohhhh, that swimmer real self-centered," Petrie commented with a whisper to Littlefoot, shaking his head at the conceited tone that the swimmer was subconsciously using. "He acting just like Cera."

"…I heard that, Petrie."

Petrie let out a terrified squeak, before chuckling nervously when he saw Cera had quickly redirected her anger towards him. Her furious glare quickly sent Petrie an implicit message — he wasn't going to be safe on Littlefoot's back if he didn't quickly clamp his beak shut.

Actually, judging from the murderous look on Cera's face, Petrie got the feeling that he wasn't going to be safe from her wrath even though he'd stopped talking the moment she'd called him out. No one insulted Cera and got away with it, after all. Denting a threehorn's pride never ended well. It meant that someone like Cera would always be seeking comeuppance against those who'd wronged her.

Now _that_ had been a lesson that he was forced to learn the hard way a couple of times before. "Heh, heh, heh…" Petrie couldn't keep a nervous laugh from escaping his beak as he reminisced about those painful memories.

Ferris shot a passing glance over, but quickly decided to ignore the tense stares between the threehorn and the flyer. "Truth was," he started, turning towards Ducky and bowing his head in her direction, "I was so entranced by your beauty when I first caught sight of you that I absolutely felt that I had to approach you to make my stance clear!"

Ducky's clouded mind finally cleared up as Ferris himself definitively stated, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the reason why the swimmer had come up to the top of the hill.

 _H-He wants to be with me? Oh, I do not like this at all! No, no, no…_

The reason that Ducky was so averse to that outcome wasn't because the swimmer was physically unattractive. In good faith, Ducky couldn't deny that Ferris' pale green coloration was rather unique, as most swimmers she'd seen—her siblings included—either had a bright or dark green color. A pale light green was something she hadn't really seen before on a swimmer, and was a unique feature that would probably allow Ferris to have a myriad of females worshiping his feet had he been slightly older.

Rather, it was more of his pushy attitude that Ducky found a problem with. While his upfront and direct attitude might work on some other swimmer, she found herself being naturally apprehensive about the offer. It was that commitment of being mates that made Ducky uncertain. She wasn't quite sure that she wanted to take the plunge and be involved in something like that at the moment.

She was only ten Cold Times old, yep, yep, yep! She could definitely wait a little longer before finding a significant other.

Perhaps Ferris might be more enthusiastic than her in his endeavor and quest to find his life mate, but was the way that he was approaching the matter warranted? Well, in her opinion, Ducky didn't quite think so. Nope, nope, nope!

But before Ducky could state her uneasiness and slam a waiting Ferris with her frank opinion, a peeved threehorn beat her to the punch. "Hey!" Cera snarled, yelling in such a loud voice that it was a miracle that none of the adults gathered down by the tree sweet tree noticed her. "Learn to read the mood, you jerk! Does my friend Ducky look like she's even remotely interested in you!?"

Ferris backed away slightly, but didn't stand down. "Well, she didn't actually say no," he countered with a defiant tone.

Cera's brow visibly twitched. The swimmer was either very brave or very foolish to talk back to her in that manner. Neither of the two boded well.

"Um… well, my mama says that I am much too young to be finding a boyfriend," Ducky said with a tinge of nervousness, hoping that her made-up excuse would work on Ferris. "She did, she did."

Considering that Ducky had meant to shut down the conversation topic with that remark, she wasn't expecting a follow-up question to her response. "How old are you?" Ferris asked in an inquisitive voice.

"Um… ten?" she answered apprehensively, quirking her head as she wondered as to why he would require that information from her.

Ferris shot Ducky a wry smile at her answer, his expression causing Ducky to back away very slightly. "Well, then that's no excuse for you! I'm nine Cold Times old, which means that I'm actually younger than you!" He clucked his tongue, "If I hatched a whole Cold Time after you and still can scout for a future girlfriend, then there's nothing stopping you from focusing on getting a future mate as well!"

Ferris didn't notice the crestfallen look on Ducky's face as he cheerfully continued on with a wave of his hand. "My Pops hopes that I'll be able to find a suitable female around my age in the valley who can become my future consort." He tapped his foot impatiently, flashing Ducky a sincere smile. "And I've already made my choice. You, my lucky swimmer, shall be it!"

Ducky shook her head, desperation starting to show in her eyes as Ferris gleefully pointed at her. Her blue eyes, usually cheerful and enthusiastic, now instead showed apprehensiveness and a tinge of fear. "Um, I do not think that I would like that. No, no, no!"

"Ah, nonsense!" Ferris grinned in spite of her refusal. "Please don't delude yourself like that! You just happen to be stunned by my sudden move on you. Give it a little bit more time, and I assure you—"

"Hey, bonehead swimmer! What part of 'no' do you not understand!? My friend already said that she doesn't like you, so buzz off already!" Cera's feet grazed the ground as she leaned forward and reared up for a charge. "Unless you want to be sent careening off this cliff, you better back off!"

The two swimmers turned around at the sarcastic remark to see a fuming Cera, the expression on her face so twisted and contorted with anger that she looked ready to impale something… or someone with her horn. She had chosen to speak up on Ducky's behalf, sensing that the mild-mannered swimmer was too meek to violently object to Ferris' advances herself.

And to be honest, Ducky knew that her friend was right. The swimmer smiled at her friend's intervention. "Cera…" she beamed with relief in her voice.

Cera's words were a feint, of course. Ducky knew that her friend wouldn't really throw Ferris off the hill, no matter how much the swimmer rubbed her the wrong way. But Ferris, new to the valley and not certain of the threehorn's personality, didn't know that, and thus wisely chose to back down.

Glancing towards the meeting still ongoing in the plains down below, Ferris' lips curled down into a frown. "Perhaps this isn't the right time…" he grumbled. Ducky could see Ferris gritting his teeth in agitation. It looked like he'd decided to play it safe, although his slight scowl showed his unhappiness of things turning out in a way that he hadn't anticipated.

With a miserable expression, Ferris spun about on his heel and showed his back to the others. As he walked away, he raised his left arm to acknowledge his leave. "Farewell! Do not fret though, I'll be back at a later time." Just as he was about to go out of sight, Ferris chose to add a final remark.

"…when that terrifying threehorn who's next to you finally calms herself down."

"What did you say!?" To no one's surprise, that shrill yell came from Cera. "You little punk! Why you… you…" she struggled to form a coherent threat, before eventually giving up and going for what worked. "You better pray that I never see your tail again… or else!"

Ducky nervously restrained a chuckle as Cera pounded the poor earth that was by her front feet. She could venture a guess as to what 'or else' could mean in Cera's mind.

However, the rest of their friends had no reservations about remaining silent at Cera's vicious threat. They simply burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"Aughhhh!" Cera glared at Littlefoot and Petrie as the longneck and flyer laughed heartily. Seeing them show no signs of stopping, she then directed her gaze towards Spike, who was also guffawing at Cera. "Just what's so funny, huh!?"

Petrie managed to give Cera an answer in between bouts of laughter. "H-he… he call you _terrifying threehorn!_ Oh, he have no idea how right he is!"

"Oh…?"

Petrie abruptly stopped laughing when his ears caught Cera's tone lowering by at least two octaves. Hesitantly glancing down from his resting point atop Littlefoot's back, Petrie gulped when he saw that the threehorn had a vengeful grin on her face. "Uhhhh…" he struggled to speak, although nothing coherent could leave his beak as Cera's smile grew proportionally larger with every stammer.

"So I'm terrifying, eh? Well, shall we test just how 'terrifying' I can be, Petrie?" Cera's white teeth shone as she gave the flyer an enthusiastic smile.

"Y-Y-You no need do that, Cera!" he held his wings out in an attempt to dissuade her. "Me already know how terrifying you are!"

Only when those words left his mouth did Petrie realize his mistake. He slapped his beak shut with his wings, but unfortunately the damage had already been done. It quickly became apparent to Littlefoot, Ducky, and Spike just what a grave error Petrie had made when Cera's teasing smile was soundly wiped off her face, the threehorn having been stunned into silence by his words.

"Uh… um… bye!" Petrie flapped his wings in a hurry, soaring high into the air before Cera was able to break out of her stupor and react. And react she promptly did, in a most spectacular manner.

"Get back here, Petrie!" the threehorn howled, charging after the fleeing flyer. "Don't you dare run away!"

Littlefoot could only shake his head and close his eyes with a subdued groan. "Uh, guys? I think Petrie's kind of gotten himself into a pickle," he pointed out with a chuckle. "Do y'all want to help save him from Cera's wrath?" he leaned down to ask Ducky and Spike, the only two remaining dinosaurs by his side.

Ducky hesitantly glanced down at the ongoing meeting, which appeared to still be horribly derailed at the moment. Every dinosaur's attention was focused on the protesting gray threehorn instead of the swimmer herd leader.

She sadly sighed, gently kicking at the ground. As a swimmer, she'd genuinely wanted to find out more about the swimmers in the farwalker herd. But it appeared that probably wasn't going to happen anytime soon, if the way her mama and Mr. Threehorn were clashing was any indicator.

Besides, if she chose to stay here on the off chance that the meeting would get back on schedule so she could find out more about the farwalkers, there was always the probability that Ferris would hold true to his promise and return. And without Cera by her side as a mediator, Ducky wasn't sure if she could refute the persistent swimmer.

It truly was a tragedy that the first swimmer who she'd gotten to know from the new herd actively spooked her. Making up her mind, she gently looked up at Spike, the spiketail absentmindedly gazing at Ducky upon feeling his sister's gaze. "Oh, I think that we should be saving Petrie. Yep, yep, yep!"

"Yeah." Littlefoot nodded. "The grief that Ferris caused Cera was intense. I can tell that she was bottling it up. But if Cera decides to unleash all of that anger out on Petrie, then Petrie's mother might be unhappy with Mr. Threehorn the next time they meet."

The longneck involuntarily shuddered as a mental image of a stern blue flyer entered his head. From what he knew of Petrie's mother, she was a relatively understanding and amiable flyer… except when her children were involved. The number of times that she'd told Littlefoot off for incessantly dragging her beloved Petrie into all sorts of crazy trouble was proof enough of her protectiveness when it came to her own flesh and blood.

Thankfully, they didn't have far to run. Within just a few seconds, the three leaf-eaters caught a glimpse of orange threatening a grounded Petrie. Petrie was situated by the edge of a stream, the flyer evidently too exhausted to flap his wings and remain in the air any further.

"Cera!" Littlefoot shouted, causing the threehorn to glance back at the approaching longneck.

Petrie immediately perked up upon seeing his salvation. "Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike! Me very glad to see you!"

"Do not fight Petrie, Cera!" Ducky clasped her hands together to plead with her friend. "I am sure that Petrie did not mean it that way when he told-ed that to you. He does not, no, no, no."

"Y-yeah!" Petrie stuttered. "Me sorry! Ducky right! Me no mean it that way!"

Cera glared daggers at Petrie, causing the flyer to yelp and shield his face with a wing to prepare for the worst. As a result, he missed seeing Cera's face softening slightly.

"Fine! Consider our little chase payback for the hide-and-seek game!" Cera strutted back to Littlefoot's side, but not before giving a final warning glare towards Petrie.

With Cera finally off his back, Petrie heaved a relieved sigh as he got to his feet. "Oh, me glad to see you!" he said as he ran to Ducky's side, profusely thanking his savior.

"It is no problem at all, Petrie. Nope, nope, nope!" Ducky smiled as she tapped Petrie on the beak three times, timing each tap of her finger at the exact same time as the "nope" that left her beak.

Petrie let out a laugh before glancing back towards the cliff that they had been at earlier. "But me no get one thing. Why that swimmer choose you, Ducky?" he asked, the unusually gutsy Ferris hot on his mind.

"Yeah," Littlefoot concurred. "We were all hiding completely out of the way." This much was true, especially so as none of the adults ever bothered to look upwards when they were engrossed in participating in a valley meeting. "Ferris would have had to climb up here willingly just to talk to you, when he probably had a whole lot of other swimmers down below at the meeting area. If he wanted someone to be with, why did he choose you?"

Ducky sighed, her hands to her reddening cheeks. "I do not know the answer to that," she admitted, "but I am glad that he is gone. He is creepy, oh, yes, yes, yes."

"Well, I for one don't personally care why he did it! He was a colossal jerk to Ducky! And not to mention that he had the gall to insult me!" Cera's smile turned predatory as thoughts of the swimmer invaded her mind. "If he ever dares to show his face to me or Ducky again, I'll make sure to—"

"Just what were you thinking, you imbecile!"

Cera stopped short when an annoyed voice from behind her cut into her rant.

"Nice try, Cera!" Petrie looked at the threehorn with a wry grin. "But me no fall for your trick twice!" he declared triumphantly, folding his wings around him.

Cera rolled her eyes at Petrie's reaction. "Wasn't me this time," she muttered. "I can't throw my voice yet!"

"But if it is not you, then who shouted just now?" Ducky wondered, confusion falling across her features.

She didn't have to ponder about it for very long.

"If you're going to be late, at least have the decency to give a valid excuse!"

Ducky turned her head to face the source of the voice and quickly caught sight of two squabbling dinosaurs further down the stream. The rest of them quickly followed her lead and inquisitively turned their heads towards the commotion as well.

The sight that greeted their eyes was not what any of them had expected. Upon a closer look, it was clear that the two feuding dinosaurs—one yellow, one dark green—were both swimmers, their stature roughly the same as Ducky's. The only clear visual differences between the two were physical. For instance, the dark green swimmer had a more pronounced head crest and was slightly larger than the other hadrosaur.

"What going on here?" Petrie whispered, before closing his beak sheepishly when he found himself hushed by Ducky and Littlefoot.

In the meantime, the yellow swimmer placed his hands by his hips, continuing to soundly lecture his dark green counterpart with a reprimanding tone. "You know, for a navigator, you have this profound habit of getting yourself lost! To think that you only made it to the Great Valley when Geoffrey's speech is about to be over… how are you possibly going to explain this to the herd leader, huh?"

"I-I already said that I'm sorry! I really didn't mean to miss Geoffrey's big speech!" The other swimmer spoke in a jittery manner, darting his eyes about nervously as he tried to refute the first swimmer's statement, only to end up tongue-tied and forced to give a weak and easily refutable excuse instead, "You all scouted ahead and reached the Great Valley way ahead of me! That's why I got myself lost after I told y'all the way to the valley, honest!"

An eyebrow was raised. "So you're saying that it's because Geoffrey made the call to leave without you and the other snoozers?"

"That's exactly right!" he answered in a firm voice. "When I was left behind, I was forced to trek along all of your footsteps in the desert to try and guess the path you guys took here!" Seeing that the yellow swimmer was still unconvinced, he clutched his hands together, all but begging him. "Please! You've got to believe me, Valent!"

The yellow swimmer, Valent, maintained a piercing gaze on his dark green counterpart, who cowered under the force of his unrelenting glare. "It's not that I don't believe you," Valent finally said. "It's just that your reliability as a navigator has come under fire before, and this incident is getting rather close to the tipping point. Your bumbling is seriously getting out of hand recently."

"Uh, Valent?" the dark green swimmer spoke up, raising his arm to interrupt him. "I think we have company!"

"Oh, no, no, no," Ducky gasped, ducking behind Spike's front legs for cover. "I think that we have been spotted!"

Cera rolled her eyes. "You think?" she mumbled sarcastically.

Valent's teal eyes glazed over to where the other swimmer was pointing at, shooting a passing glance over to the five leaf-eater dinosaurs by his side. "Fine," he muttered. "I won't fault you for this any longer, not when you and I have an audience watching us."

"We're an audience?" Cera growled, gnashing her teeth at the swimmer's words.

"Just, please… for the sake of the herd, don't do it again," Valent reminded the green swimmer in a cautionary tone before strolling off in the opposite direction, following along the bank of the river.

"Whew!" The lone remaining swimmer wiped his brow in relief. "Thank goodness he's finally gone! I'm not sure how much longer I could've taken his scolding…"

It was at the opportune moment that Littlefoot decided to greet the swimmer. "Hello there!" he called out.

"G-gack!" The hadrosaur jumped into the air upon hearing the sudden voice. "Whoa… wahhhhh!"

As the swimmer landed on the ground after springing into the air, he accidentally stepped on his tail and clumsily tripped over it. He flailed his arms wildly around as he slipped and fell backwards, landing on his rump as the soft grass below cushioned his fall with a _whump_.

"Wow… great going, Littlefoot," Cera muttered sarcastically upon seeing the swimmer's haphazard fall. "He got scared so badly that he fell right to the ground. Geez, he must have thought that you were a sharptooth sneaking up on him or something."

Ducky walked on over to the fallen swimmer who was sitting on the soft grass, offering him a hand to get back to his feet. The swimmer went wide-eyed at the gesture for a moment before he hesitantly reached out and took her hand, pulling himself up with support from Ducky.

Upon seeing him upright again, Ducky decided to console him. "Do not be scared-ed. Littlefoot means no harm. He did not mean to scare you." Her eyes slowly shifted in the direction of her sauropod friend. "He is a very nice dinosaur. Yep, yep, yep!"

"Littlefoot?" the swimmer prodded, tilting his head sideways in confusion.

Ducky giggled when she realized her mistake. "Oh, I am being silly! I forgot that you do not know who Littlefoot is!"

"You're correct about that," the swimmer sighed, placing his hands behind his head. "Mind if you introduce yourselves?"

Ducky flashed the swimmer a thumb-up before using her other hand to point to all her friends in turn. "The brown longneck over there is Littlefoot! Say hello, Littlefoot!"

"Hello!" Littlefoot greeted as the swimmer squinted his eyes, turning his head and darting his eyes all around the area until he spotted the longneck and gently waved his arm as a greeting.

"The spiketail grazing on the treestars way back there is my brother Spike—"

Before Ducky could continue further, the swimmer cut in. "Huh!? Wait… that's your brother? B-but… you're a swimmer! How can you two possibly be siblings!?"

"Because my mama adopted him! She did, she did! Isn't that right, Spike?"

Spike lifted his head, pausing his meal to give his sister a cheerful nod before resuming his early dinner.

Ducky simply shrugged at Spike's response, before frowning slightly when she looked back at the swimmer. The swimmer she had been talking to seemed even more pale than before, his whole face now tense and clammy. Perhaps he was having trouble remembering names?

Nevertheless, she pressed on. "My name is Ducky! Yep, yep, yep!" she introduced herself with a wide grin before gesturing towards her good friend. "And that flyer over there is Petrie!"

"Nice to meet you!" Petrie cawed.

"So… uh, who's the threehorn?"

Cera snorted at the swimmer. "Hah! Who am I, you ask? Well, I am the greatest threehorn to ever—"

"…Cera. Her name's Cera." Littlefoot hastily interrupted Cera's haughty spiel before the topic ended up being magnificently derailed. It didn't take a genius to realize that threehorns were the most profound species when it came to accomplishing a sudden switch in conversation topics.

Still, Littlefoot's move was met with much displeasure from the prideful Cera. "Yeah. That's my name," she gruffed, "You got a problem with that, swimmer?"

"No, no, no!" The swimmer shuddered, swallowing a gulp with terror-filled eyes. "I'm sorry! I'll abstain from any further comments!" he said, waving his arms frantically about while backing away.

"But you no even make any comment about Cera!" Petrie pointed out, causing the swimmer to chuckle nervously.

He twiddled his fingers before speaking. "O-oops… my bad. Sorry, I'm used to saying things that get me in trouble. That's all…"

"What do you know…" Cera grumbled under her breath. "I think we finally found someone who behaves almost the same way you do, Petrie." Petrie could only sigh in response, unsure of whether Cera had made that observation in an encouraging or spiteful manner.

Ducky walked forward, giving the newcomer a reassuring look. "Well, there is no need to be shy. We told you all of our names, so what is your name?" she asked, the prompt eliciting another shudder from the swimmer, who began to back away slightly, his left foot shifting backwards.

"M-M-My name?" he stuttered, nervously averting his amber eyes away from the overenthusiastic Ducky. "W-Why do you want to know my name? I'm just a normal ol' swimmer, that's all! Nothing special here! There's no need for an introduction like that!"

"But I have not seen you before today. That makes you special to me. Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Ducky nodded her head thrice, causing the olive green swimmer in front of her to groan as his lie of omission was promptly caught out. "So, are you new to the valley? Are you? Huh? Huh?"

The dark green swimmer hung his head once he realized to his great dismay that he would be unable to escape the conversation. "Well, yeah. I guess I can't hide it any longer, since you managed to figure it out. I am kind of new to the valley."

"So does that mean that you are a farwalker?"

"Wh-whatever makes you assume that?" he yelped, twiddling his fingers.

"Hey, swimmer!" The swimmer jolted at the grating cry from behind him, and let out a gasp of fear as he came face-to-face with one very agitated threehorn, Cera having moved behind the swimmer to talk to him at close proximity. "Look, I don't know who you think you're fooling with that answer… but it certainly isn't going to be me!" She bared her horns, marching forward until she was literally right in front of the petrified swimmer. "So how about you quit the act and spill it already!"

His face began to pale from Cera's order. "Well… I… uh…" he stuttered.

It was at this point that Littlefoot cut in, deciding to go for a tamer approach to coax the answer out from the terrified swimmer. "I think what Cera meant to say was that you don't have to hide it from us. We overheard part of your conversation with that other swimmer from earlier."

"Yo-you heard my conversation with Valent?" the swimmer asked with widened eyes. "The entire thing?"

"That's right," Littlefoot confirmed with a nod of his head. "That was how we knew for certain that you were with the herd."

"Plus, that Valent guy say you herd navigator!" Petrie recounted. "That mean you must be with farwalker swimmer herd!"

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky agreed. "That is not even mentioning that if you had come-ed to the valley along with the other swimmers, you must be one of the farwalkers!"

As the leaf-eaters in front put the pieces together even without any prompts, the swimmer found himself reluctantly answering their question, knowing that there was no longer any point in keeping it hidden from these persistent dinosaurs any longer.

"Jovi…"

"Huh?" Ducky quirked her head. "What did you just say?"

He reached up with his arm to scratch his head crest. "That's my name. Jovi." The hadrosaur found himself unable to make eye contact with the leaf-eaters by his front, his fear most likely the cause for that. Instead, Ducky and the others observed that Jovi's amber eyes hovered downwards, aimed towards the ground in shame.

Composing himself, Jovi took in a deep breath before carrying on, "And what you'd overheard Valent say earlier was true. I'm the herd navigator for Geoffrey's herd. Wherever he wants to go, I plan out the best route to avoid sharpteeth and get us to our destination in the quickest possible time."

Littlefoot raised his eyebrow at the description of the swimmer's role. "Wow! That sounds like a really important job!"

"I agree. Sounds very important to me! Yep, yep, yep!"

"Yeah, me too. If only we had someone with us that could scout for the best possible route to take whenever we went out to the Mysterious Beyond," Cera muttered sardonically.

"…why everyone looking at Petrie?"

Jovi laughed as Petrie grew flustered. "You have a flyer with you? Why, they'll make the best navigators! Too bad that we're a swimmer herd, haha! Flyers come and go whenever they so please, so we swimmers can't rely on them for planning travel routes. So when I proposed to join Geoffrey's herd on the condition that I'll be his full-time navigator, he accepted my proposal instantaneously."

"So does that mean you're a good navigator?" Littlefoot asked.

"Heheheh, you doubt me? Of course I am! That question is moot!" Jovi chortled, raising up an arm and pointing his thumb at his eyes. "The herd navigator has the best eyesight. How else can they plan the swiftest routes to their destinations?" He took a small bow as he concluded his sales pitch. "The very fact that they selected me is proof of my talent!"

"But we heard that other swimmer say that you were not that good at your job. No, no, no…"

Jovi shook his head, clenching one of his fists. "Valent…" he grimaced, his face contorting. "That swimmer… of course he'd say that. He really takes great joy in putting down others."

"That no very nice," Petrie frowned, the flyer knowing very well what it was like to be mocked, in his case for being the runt of the litter.

"I agree. It is not nice to walk all over others, nope, nope, nope!" Ducky affirmed.

"Well, it's just a Valent thing. His personality is rather unique, even amidst all the swimmers in our herd." Jovi gave a passing glance over to the downstream river, looking at the direction that the yellow swimmer had walked off in. "But to be frank, the reason that he'd made that comment in the first place was due to our argument from earlier."

"Your argument?" Littlefoot prodded, stepping closer to the swimmer.

"Yes. I take it you heard our argument from the start?" Jovi questioned, quickly knowing from their silence that their answer was affirmative. "Yeah, so what happened was sort of dumb. Basically, I'd already drafted out the herd's route to the valley the night before, but I worked so hard on planning the optimal route that I overslept. Apparently Valent tried to wake me up, before giving up and telling me to make it to the valley on my own. The herd leader wasn't waiting any longer for slowpokes like me."

"So that's the reason he was so mad at you?" Cera blurted out. "That's dumb! The only reason you were even late in the first place was because of him! If he'd actually bothered to wake you up, you wouldn't have been left behind and ended up missing the valley meeting!"

Jovi pursed his lips. "Well… you do have a point there. But I'm not going to pursue the matter. Really, Valent already has enough on his hands with Ferris…"

The reaction to Ferris' name was instantaneous. In an instant, all five leaf-eaters rounded onto Jovi.

"You know that guy?" Cera scowled, making her displeasure known.

Jovi backed away slightly to get away from the mass of faces that were surrounding his field of vision. "Of course I know who Ferris is," he mumbled as he dusted himself off. "Which swimmer in this herd wouldn't be able to recognize the herd leader's very own son?"

There was dead silence for a moment as the dinosaurs around processed Jovi's words. The only sound that could be heard was Spike gnawing on his food.

"Ferris is the son of the herd leader?" Ducky clutched her head, feeling a mounting headache coming upon her with this revelation. "Oh, I do not like that at all. Nope, nope, nope…"

"Me surprised too!" Petrie was dumbfounded by the news. "He no act like herd leader's son."

"I agree with Petrie. For example, Littlefoot acts a little like his dad when it comes to taking charge. He does, he does," Ducky pointed out as she looked at Littlefoot, who could only chuckle in response.

"Yeah, I see where you're coming from, Ducky." Littlefoot appeared deep in thought as he recalled the confident herd leader speaking in front of the entire Great Valley. "Ferris and Geoffrey seem like two very different swimmers."

Jovi nodded at the longneck. "Yep! If you didn't know better, you'd think that Valent was Geoffrey's son, not Ferris. Their personalities are like night and day."

"Wait! You're serious?" Cera finally growled after hearing Jovi's previous statement, the threehorn tempted to smash the nearest rock in sight upon hearing the information. "That guy is the herd leader's son? Of all the swimmers…"

"Well, Ferris is certainly Geoffrey's son," Jovi confirmed as he wagged his tail about, before his voice turned wistful. "The day that this herd is unable to recognize the face of the herd leader's firstborn son is a dark day indeed."

"Hah! Like I'll forget his face!" Cera growled at the very thought of the insanely daring swimmer. "Especially when that swimmer jerk had the guts to propose to Ducky!"

"He proposed to you?" Jovi gasped, before shaking his head in sympathy at Ducky. "Well, good luck with that. I'm afraid Ferris is used to getting what he wants. It's why he considers Valent quite the annoyance. To think that it's all because Valent is a rather curt reality check for him. Petty, isn't it?"

"Well, you can consider me reality check number two," Cera proudly declared as she held her head high. "If bashing into Ferris with my horns will send him careening back down to reality, I'll do it without a moment's hesitation!"

"Heh heh heh!" Jovi giggled at Cera's brash proclamation, showing a genuine smile on his face for the first time since the conversation had started. "Well, Valent isn't as physically violent as you. He just never got along well with Ferris," he explained.

"Why?" Petrie asked, finding the relationship between the swimmers quite fascinating. Maybe it was because the only swimmers he was close to was Ducky and her siblings, swimmers who were always amiable and caring to one another. It was normally the flyers—and his siblings in particular—that gave him a headache with their downright mean remarks at times. So to see this terse relationship in swimmers… was something quite new to Petrie.

"I don't know, to be honest. I only joined this herd about six Night Circle cycles ago. Whatever animosity or crazy grudge that happened between them took place way before I came along."

Petrie tapped a digit against his beak. "Me see… so that mean you no know why they no like each other?"

"Not a clue," Jovi shrugged before pointing up to the sky. "I'm not like the numerous stars up there, hanging out in the sky. Unlike our ancestors, I can't see or know everything that transpires in the Mysterious Beyond."

"So they don't like each other, huh?" Cera's eyes glazed up, the threehorn deep in thought.

Not noticing Cera's apprehensiveness with the topic, Jovi answered her query. "That much is indisputable. Ferris and Valent are not the best of friends. In fact, I'd peg the two of them as rivals." He turned towards the stream, shaking his head. "Their many feuds are legendary among the herd."

"Count me interested—"

"I think that's enough for one day." Littlefoot sternly cut in before Cera could finish. The longneck had a feeling that if he didn't stop them now, they would regret it down the line.

Before Cera could retort, Jovi heaved a sigh of relief and went back to the shy personality he'd had at the start of the conversation. "W-Well, I guess that's it, then…" he bowed before timidly backing away. "It was nice meeting such a varied herd. Bye bye, now!"

"Littlefoot! Why did you stop him from saying more?" Cera raged as Jovi took his leave by running into a treestar bush. "I was this close to finding out useful information about that creep! That was supposed to be a treasure trove of blackmail at my disposal!"

"Cera!" Littlefoot gently rebuked her. "Violence isn't the answer to Ducky's predicament!"

"Oh yes it is! I don't care if he's the herd leader's son! That Ferris is going to get it from me no matter what!"

Littlefoot was aghast by her response. "But the grownups allowed them to stay in the valley. We can't hurt them without a valid reason if they're temporary valley residents!" he explained, trying his best to quell Cera's rising anger.

"Oh yeah? Last I checked, the meeting was still ongoing. Maybe they haven't been officially inducted into the valley yet," Cera said with vigor, breaking into a run as she ran back to their earlier rendezvous point. "If that's the case, then I'm gonna give that arrogant swimmer a piece of my mind!"

"C-Cera! Wait! Don't do it!" Littlefoot took off after her, but not before using his neck to beckon the others to follow him.

"Coming, Littlefoot!" Ducky climbed onto Spike, waiting for the spiketail to munch on his last treestar before he slowly trotted after Littlefoot. "Let us chase after Littlefoot, Spike!" Ducky ordered in a playful manner. "Tee hee!"

"Wait up! Me coming too!" Petrie called out. But just as Petrie was about to soar upwards, he felt an arm reach out and grab his wing.

"Wh-whooaaa!" he yelped, quickly aborting takeoff and landing back down onto the ground. Petrie began to hyperventilate, breathing in heavily from the near scare that he'd received. He had almost taken off with that extra weight, a scenario that would have been disastrous as the additional weight would shift his center of gravity and quickly send the flyer careening someplace else, a place that would certainly end in pain no matter where he ended up being directed.

Petrie jolted when he heard a voice call out to him. "Psssttt! Petrie, was it?" The voice was uncertain but firm. "It's me!"

He turned around, only to come face-to-face with the swimmer who had retreated into the vegetation earlier. "Jovi?" Petrie cocked his head. "What you want? Me thought you already done talking!"

Jovi sheepishly placed his hands behind his head, propping them up against his crest. "Well, sorry. I literally just remembered something important. And well, since you were the only one left, I guess you're the perfect one to tell."

"What this about?" Petrie folded his wings in an annoyed manner. "Make it quick! Friends waiting for Petrie at top of hill! Me holding them back!"

"Tell me, Petrie." Jovi's eyes narrowed as they darted between the flyer in the foreground and the swimmer riding on a spiketail in the background. "Do you and your friends happen to be particularly close?"

Petrie frowned. "That dumb question! Of course we close! Me, Ducky, Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, Chomper, and Ruby! We seven bestest friends!" he answered without hesitation.

"I see…" Jovi began to pace about. "If that's the case, then for your sake, you better hope that Ferris doesn't succeed in impressing your female swimmer friend."

Petrie was indignant at Jovi's comment. "Oh, no worry. Me no think Ducky will—"

"He's quite the charmer," Jovi interrupted, looking directly into Petrie's eyes. "Don't underestimate Ferris, or else you might find that your friend will be swept off her feet if she isn't careful," he warned, looking up into the sky. "And then, the next thing you know, those two swimmers will be together for the rest of their lives." He snapped his fingers with a half-amused, half-serious laugh. "Mark my words, Petrie!"

"But me no see big deal about this. Ducky no like him right now," Petrie bluntly stated. Truly, this wasn't very high on the flyer's priority list. "And even if Ducky accept him later, it her choice!"

"Come on! You still don't get it?" By now, Jovi's voice had incurred a tinge of skepticism in them.

"Me really no know what you getting at!" Petrie emphasized.

"Really?" Jovi's disbelieving eyes grew wide, "You still don't understand what's the biggest loss you'll incur if those two are successfully bonded for life?" Without warning, he rushed at Petrie, grabbing hold of both of the flyer's shoulders with his hands before muttering his next words to Petrie in a haunting tone. "I take it that you heard Geoffrey's speech? Do you recall how long he said he'd stay in the Great Valley?"

"Um…" Petrie tapped his talons along the ground, leaning back from the swimmer's physical contact. "Me think he say herd staying until Cold Time?"

"Did he really…" Jovi mused, glancing away momentarily before looking back at Petrie. When he next spoke, his voice turned deadly serious. "You're a flyer, so you might not know this. But when we swimmers find ourselves a mate, the female will leave her family to live with the male's family. You see where I'm going with this, don't you?"

There was silence as Petrie contemplated about the significance of Jovi's statement. When the flyer put two and two together and finally realized what that would imply, he let out a horrified gasp.

Jovi took that as his cue to continue. "You said that you and your friends are very close, right?" He shot a passing glance over to Ducky and Spike in the distance, who were running after an even further Littlefoot and Cera. He let out an amused chuckle at the sight, before turning back to the shaken Petrie.

As the question he'd just asked Petrie was rhetorical, Jovi didn't wait for him to reply before giving the flyer an ominous prediction of things to come. "Just a warning for you and all your friends. If your swimmer friend Ducky successfully gets hitched with ol' Ferris… then it's too bad for all of your close friendships." He tightened his grip on Petrie's wing, looking directly into the flyer's black eyes as he completed his warning.

"Because I'm afraid it would mean that she'll have no choice but to leave with our herd when we eventually head back out to the Mysterious Beyond!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Plot-wise, this chapter is a bit on the subdued side, but it brings forth the introduction to two additional members of the swimmer herd, as well as establishing a personal stake for Petrie and the remainder of the gang.

…

 **DiddyKF1:** I agree wholeheartedly. Setting up the initial setting via an introduction is something that I've learnt to do with story outlines. It's one of those "calm before the storm" sequences that only serves to make the inciting incident that much more apparent in terms of breaking the existing status quo.

 **Guest:** I hope that reading this chapter answers your question! Hahahaha! Oh, not to worry, those two will get their moment in the limelight eventually…

 **Rhombus:** Well, it's resolved with words rather than horns. Not that it's that much of an improvement, though you were somewhat close. :P Thanks for the review, and I hope the latest chapter sheds some light about the situation on hand.

 **Keijo6:** Yes, and the fact that he'd immediately zoomed in on Ducky is not missed by the five friends themselves. And with the new information in this chapter, it'll certainly throw a spanner in the works.

…

Thanks for all the reviews! I'm actually currently down with a bout of flu, but luckily I'd drafted up this entire chapter before the virus really hit me, so all I needed were a couple of minor edits before releasing it.

Next time, we'll see just how Petrie reacts to this horrifying revelation, one that just might come true should a certain swimmer remain persistent in his efforts.


	4. Petrie's Faustian Bargain

**Chapter 4: Petrie's Faustian Bargain**

Petrie looked as though he'd just been slapped in the beak. Hard.

The brown flyer shook his head with an open beak, stammering a hasty denial. "Du-Ducky need go away?" he stuttered in horror, unable to believe what he'd just been told. "Nooooo… me no want Ducky go away! She belong here in Great Valley, together with us friends!" Petrie insisted with an admittedly pitiful whine. "Ducky no belong in farwalker swimmer herd!"

It appeared that today just wasn't going to be his day. To think that his best friend Ducky could very well end up being forced to leave the Great Valley and join up with the swimmer herd against any of their wills? Petrie vehemently shook his head, adamantly refusing to believe the facts.

This couldn't happen to Ducky! It just couldn't! He refused to let this hypothetical, yet scarily realistic scenario become reality!

 _M-Me no can let Ducky get taken away by that no-good swimmer!_

Although Jovi was unable to peer into Petrie's mind, he could roughly guess what the flyer was thinking in his head when he saw Petrie's face cramp up with a mixture of determination and fear. The swimmer let out a tired sigh, gently patting Petrie on the wing in a gesture of support. "Well, I'm so sorry that I had to be the one to break that to you. But I'm just saying that if they do get together, your friend Ducky wouldn't really have a choice."

Jovi paused as he finished, moving his hand under his chin to contemplate his next words before he said them. "Plus, it doesn't help that Ferris is one stubborn and persistent swimmer. He simply won't quit until he gets what he wants…" the swimmer sighed and shook his head. "Guess that trait runs in their family."

As Jovi was musing the situation, the swimmer unconsciously tilted his head slightly downwards. Because of a combination of the posture he adopted and his close proximity to Petrie, the flyer suddenly noticed something off with Jovi's face. "Wh-what happen to your eye?" Petrie stuttered, noticing a small diagonal scar directly above Jovi's right eye, one that was almost invisible unless viewed from the correct angle.

Jovi flinched back at Petrie's observation, reaching a finger up and rubbing the scab wound in question as though it had started to throb again. "Th-that? Just an old injury I got ages ago," he waved the matter off with his other free arm. "Truth is, I forget that it exists sometimes. Despite how it looks, it doesn't actually affect my eyesight, nor does it really irritate me much…"

"That injury look serious," Petrie commented, causing Jovi to grimace as the swimmer squeezed his right eye shut, rubbing the scar further in a way that made it almost seem like he was aggravating the wound.

"It's… it's nothing, really." Jovi stopped rubbing the wound, heaving a tired sigh as he backed away from Petrie to give the flyer some personal space. "If you really wish to know, I accidentally slammed my head into a rocky bluff while swimming a long time ago. Had this scar to remind me of my stupidity ever since," he explained, gently kicking at the ground. "At least it doesn't hurt, and it helps that it isn't an obvious wound. So, I don't really care about it." He stuck out his tongue as he concluded.

Petrie winced as Jovi tilted his head inquisitively. "What's wrong?" the swimmer asked. "You seemed rather spooked."

"How you slam head into bluff?" Petrie tentatively asked, assuming that 'bluff' was a swimmers' term for 'rock'. Admittedly, it was kind of an insensitive question to ask, but the flyer's curiosity was now piqued and he wanted to know the answer, darn it all.

Jovi's eyes widened, the swimmer's face turning pale. "We-well…" he stammered, clutching his head as though he was suddenly suffering a migraine. His right eye twitched as he stared vacantly ahead, freezing on the spot as though he was rooted to the ground. "It's kind of personal…" he finally admitted as he recovered, looking down and averting his eyes with a feeling akin to shame. "Perhaps I'll tell you some other time, okay?"

Petrie grimaced, but accepted Jovi's reasoning. "It okay. You no need feel bad," he reassured the swimmer, which visibly helped to ease Jovi's mood.

"Well, I suppose I better get going. If Valent comes back and finds me standing around over here instead of listening in to what's left of Geoffrey's speech…" the green swimmer trailed off before he could finish the thought, shuddering in fright. As Jovi recovered, he pursed his lips thoughtfully before giving a final reassuring smile to Petrie. "Best of luck to you, Petrie! Pray that Ferris doesn't get to your friend! I'll be rooting for ya!"

Petrie waved farewell to Jovi as the swimmer scurried away in a flustered manner. The flyer then sighed as he found himself all alone again. With those heavy words still lingering in his mind, he flapped his wings and began making his way towards the clifftop where his friends were all gathered.

But even as he felt a gentle breeze flowing over his wings, he couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness. Petrie shivered as he flew, shaking away his apprehensiveness when he saw his friends huddled ahead of him.

"Hey, guys! Sorry me late!" Petrie called out to them as he touched down onto the ground. It was only then that he noticed that only a mere two dinosaurs were there instead of the four that he'd expected. "Eh? Littlefoot, Cera?" He turned his head all around but was unable to spot his swimmer friend or her brother. "Where Ducky and Spike go?" he questioned.

Cera huffed as she answered Petrie. "Well, Ducky said she wasn't really feeling too well, so she and Spike went back to her home." The grumpy threehorn then proceeded to grunt at Petrie, grumbling under her breath. "Why did you take so long to get over here, anyway?" She peered at Petrie in confusion. "It isn't even that far! You missed everything because you were late! The entire meeting's over already!"

A stunned Petrie followed Cera's glare down towards the vacant plains below, only to realize that she was absolutely right. Where almost the entire valley had congregated around the grassy plains below just a couple of moments earlier, there was now nary a soul in sight, with only the large prominent pink tree sweet tree left down below.

"Huh… you right. They all gone!" Petrie commented. He supposed that the distinct lack of noise or arguments should have hinted to him as to the meeting's end even before Cera had brought it to his attention.

"That's right, Petrie. Also, Cera didn't mention it…" Littlefoot brought up, willingly risking a sharp glare from the threehorn as he made note of the minor detail, "but it was actually already over by the time that we made it back up here ourselves. They most likely wrapped it up while we were busy dealing with Ferris and Ducky's dilemma."

Petrie nodded. It was definitely a surprise that they had closed the meeting so abruptly, considering that valley meetings usually ran for far longer.

Littlefoot's eyes hovered towards the mountains that surrounded the valley, the longneck squinting them as they fell upon the setting Bright Circle. "Well, it could also be because the Bright Circle's going down," he hypothesized. "It's getting awfully late…"

Cera followed Littlefoot's gaze, standing upright in a rather proud manner as she grumbled under her breath. "You're probably right, Littlefoot. They're all probably getting themselves ready for dinner or something. Yeah, that's the real reason why they ended the meeting!"

"Me see." Petrie shifted uncomfortably as Cera scrutinized his face. "Me guess me better go and find Mom before she get worried about me." Waving a quick goodbye to his friends, he made his way back up into the skies above.

"See you, Petrie!" Littlefoot called out with a pleasant smile.

"Yeah!" Cera added, "And you better make sure that you come back to play with us tomorrow so that I can finally thrash you in a game of hide-and-seek!"

"Hey!" Petrie let out an indignant cry at Cera's threat, his voice accompanied with a grumpy frown as he flapped his wings in a manner that allowed him to look down at her while still maintaining his flight. "Me no going to lose to you, Cera!"

Cera gruffed, quickly firing back at the flyer. "That's what _you_ think, Petrie! But we'll soon see who's the best at this game!"

Petrie shook his head as he flew back to his home. Some things just never changed…

As the Bright Circle slowly dipped below the horizon, no one noticed a second flyer that most definitely wasn't from the Great Valley stepping into the reddened light, the flyer in question fervently eyeing the setting Bright Circle and the soaring Petrie from his current perspective. A perfect view was available to him as he stood by the foot of a large tree located further down the cliff, in the approximate direction that Petrie and the gang had come from earlier.

"It is almost time… the darkness of night awaits," he hissed under his breath as he eyed the descending Bright Circle. "It would appear that the scepter of death… will be looming over _your_ head tonight." He brushed his wings, squinting his eyes as he saw Petrie disappearing into a cavern located at the top of a rocky cliff.

"Now, the question is… will you be willing to take the plunge?"

The straw-colored flyer basked in the rays of light for a while longer, before stealthily retreating back into the shadows.

* * *

Nightfall came quickly to the Great Valley.

For a flyer who was currently moping about the current situation regarding Ducky's predicament, the rise of the Night Circle was unfortunately accompanied by the surge of apprehensive feelings within him as well. Petrie kicked his feet in his nest, the uneasy feeling within his quivering body making it difficult, if not downright impossible, for him to drift off into sleep. "Ohhhh, today bad day…" he softly whined, moping as he tossed and turned about.

His movements did not go unnoticed. A concerned high-pitched voice spoke up, shattering the peaceful silence. "Hey… what's wrong, Petrie?"

Petrie turned about at the voice, propping himself up into a sitting position. That distinct voice had come from the indisputable nicest of all his siblings, Gryphon. Petrie was the youngest of his mother's clutch of six, having five older siblings hatched ahead of him. In terms of hatch order from oldest to youngest, the sequence went — Pitch, Yaw, Roll, Gyro, Gryphon, and lastly Petrie himself.

Gryphon was the second-youngest of the six, a perpetually jovial flyer with a light chocolate brown coloration. He was by far the most pleasant out of all his siblings when it came to their favorite pastime of teasing the runt of the litter.

Petrie had to admit that Gryphon wasn't nearly as malicious with his remarks as some of the others, especially Gyro — the uncontested "bully" of the six. Gryphon's mellow behavior could be further attributed to the fact that his default personality caused him to have the tendency of behaving in a humbler manner, therefore resulting in him not being one who took enjoyment out of teasing others.

In fact, back when Petrie had offered Guido the chance to stay with his family during the time nearing the Great Day of the Flyers, Petrie distinctly remembered Gryphon smiling pleasantly at the unusual glider and going, "You're okay, Guido!", in great contrast to all the scathing remarks and questions that his other siblings had for the apprehensive Guido.

Gryphon had given the unusual Guido a chance, doing so with a smile accompanied by a reassuring voice. Although his moral support appeared relatively small in the grand scheme of things, it was significant enough to Guido after he had scoured the entire valley for a place to stay and fit in. Hence, his brother's words had ended up truly helping the teal glider when he was struggling to find acceptance within the valley.

"Me no know, Gryphon." Petrie admitted with a groan as he shook his head. "Me just no feeling too happy." He really didn't want to tell any of his siblings—even Gryphon—that his current mood swing was partly due to Ducky, lest the news leaked to his other siblings, which would surely end with them teasing Petrie about his unusual friendships with non-flyer dinosaurs yet again.

"Are you sure about that?" Gryphon asked, glancing at Petrie with an expression of sheer disbelief. He marched up to Petrie and looked directly at his younger brother, a persistent and stubborn look on his face. "Positively sure?"

Petrie appreciated Gryphon's concern, but he wasn't in the mood to entertain his older brother at the moment. "Me very sure!" he replied as he waved Gryphon away with a wing.

"Whatever you say, Petrie…" Gryphon protectively hovered around Petrie out of concern, before he hesitantly walked away and moved over to another part of the nest.

Left on his own, he was now free to reflect on the day's events. Petrie moped about as he remembered Ferris persistently going after Ducky, the memory overlaid with Jovi's warning regarding the light green swimmer.

 _"I'm afraid Ferris is used to getting what he wants."_

Petrie angrily shut his eyes as he recalled those words. _Well, me no want you get together with Ducky_ , he made sure to tell Ferris in his mind.

"What's the matter, Petrie?"

He jolted when he heard his mother's voice, looking up to see his mom peering at him with a worried expression. He momentarily pondered as to what had caused his mother to approach him, but seeing an apologetic Gryphon hanging further back told Petrie the answer — his brother had sensed that something was amiss and raised his concerns.

Suppressing his frown, Petrie immediately attempted to feign ignorance. "Me fine… honest! You no need worry, Mom!"

"Petrie…" Skylar saw through the lie instantaneously, looking into Petrie's eyes with a serious expression. "You can tell me what's wrong…" she assured, her voice turning gentle as she prodded her son.

It didn't take long for Petrie's inner resistance to crumble and break down. The moment his mother put pressure on him, he felt himself beginning to falter. "Oh, Momma! Me… me…" he began, his voice breaking as he faced away from his mom, looking to the rocky ground. Taking a deep breath, Petrie simply gave in and let the torrent of words tumble out.

"Me scared that Ducky need to leave Great Valley!" Seeing his mother with a befuddled look at his outlandish concern, Petrie proceeded to elaborate for her. "You saw swimmer herd that came to valley? Well, herd leader's son like Ducky and want to take Ducky away! What me to do!? Me really scared of him, Mom!"

Petrie's mother delicately scooted closer to her distraught youngest son and leaned down to cuddle an upset Petrie, letting him cozily seek comfort in the relaxing embrace of her large wings. "Oh, Petrie… you have to take a deep breath and let yourself relax. All you have to do is tell yourself that everything's going to be alright, dear."

"Me scared, Mom. Me really scared and sad!" Petrie glumly confessed to his mother, the one flyer whom he could keep no secrets from. "What if he succeed in getting together with Ducky? That mean Ducky have to leave Great Valley! Then what me gonna do? Me and Ducky been best friends since we first met… me no want her go!"

In one fell swoop, he had whined out all of his concerns in a pitiful manner, which made Petrie immensely glad that this chat between them was a private one. He was certain that his siblings would never let him live it down if they could hear his squeaky voice now, close to the verge of tears due to his anxiety over Ducky's current situation.

Skylar reassuringly cooed at her son, gently rocking him about with her wings in an attempt to pacify him. "There, there, Petrie. There's no point in fretting about the future when it's all so uncertain. Nothing's set in stone yet, you know? I mean, you don't even know if the Bright Circle is going to rise tomorrow or if it'll be obscured by a layer of sky puffies."

As Petrie wiped a tear from his eyes with his wing, she continued on with a motherly voice. "That is why I always tell the others that it's futile to panic when you don't even know what to expect." Skylar darted her head around to make sure that no one was listening into their conversation before hissing a whisper to Petrie in an amused voice. "I even had to tell that little piece of advice to Mr. Threehorn before."

Her words succeeded in livening up the mood. Petrie couldn't stop chuckling beneath his mother's wings at the mental image that his mind had conjured up from those words.

"Frankly, there's no reason to stress yourself out because of something that might not even be an inevitability. For all you know, Ducky might not have to leave at all even if that swimmer manages to woo her. You still got a while to go before you hit your Time of Great Growing, Petrie."

"Me know!" he grumbled. "Me just wish it come sooner! Me already ten Cold Times old!"

Skylar gave her son a knowing smile as he continued to frown at her blunt admission. "But when you get a little older, you'll be surprised by the power held by females in a situation like this one. Why, you might find that Ducky may even be able to negotiate with him," she said to his surprise.

"R-Really?"

"Yes, I mean it. Don't worry yourself silly over this small affair." She released her hold on Petrie, letting her son recover and get back on his own two feet. "Take small steps, Petrie. There's no need to rush for the treestars and get yourself worked up all for nothing."

Petrie nodded, wiping his reddened eyes as he sniffed. "M-me… understand, Mom."

Skylar beamed as Petrie finally began to recover. "Always remember, dear — we're flyers, not threehorns. Unlike those rigid threehorns who would bash down trees just to eat, we can get the best treestars simply by flying to the very top of those trees." Her eyes twinkled mischievously as she knelt down to look at Petrie, her son attentively absorbing her every word.

"You see what I'm getting at, Petrie? There's always more than one way to address a problem. Just take things as they come and adapt to the ever-changing situation," she wisely recounted a quote while opening her wings up. " _That_ is how we flyers live."

Petrie nodded at his mother with a glad smile on his face. "You… you right, Mom. Thank you so much for pep talk! It really help Petrie cheer up!"

"It's alright, Petrie," she smiled back, massaging Petrie's scalp tenderly with her wing. "Don't forget, I'm your mother. I'd always be here for my little boy if I can."

Petrie could only nod at her with a smile. "Well, me think me gonna take quick flight around valley," he told his mother, flexing his wings in preparation for a takeoff. "Me think me need time to clear me mind."

Skylar gently patted the top of her son's head before gesturing to the exit of their home. "Take as long as you need, Petrie," she said as she fought back a yawn before stretching her wings and making her way back to where she had come from.

"Bye, Mom!" Petrie waved goodbye to his mother as she ventured further into their nest, before jumping off the cavern that doubled as his family's nest. Opening his wings to catch the wind as he fell, he let his momentum carry him towards the open plains of the Great Valley.

After that short aerial flight, he landed on the ground uneventfully. Retracting his wings, Petrie found himself looking up to the night sky with a blissful expression on his face. As a flyer, his species was more adept for flying during the day, as the lack of light from the Bright Circle after dusk dramatically reduced his visibility.

But despite all of its disadvantages as compared to a clear sunny daytime sky, Petrie still found himself enjoying the night sky for one single reason.

The stars.

Petrie was fortunate that the weather on this night was virtually perfect for stargazing. The gentle breeze was supplemented by a clear sky, with only a few sky puffies obscuring the view. As a result, the stars could be seen shining bright and clear from the ground, numerous of them scattered throughout the night sky in a myriad of dazzling constellations.

Only on a night like this could Petrie truly see his mother's bedtime stories come to life. _"The many stars up in the skies at night are the spirits of our ancient ancestors watching over us,"_ she had said many times before.

With countless stars twinkling up in the sky, their dazzling selves further complemented by the full Night Circle, it was truly a mesmerizing sight for any dinosaur to witness. Sitting down on the grass, Petrie leaned his head back and peacefully enjoyed the breathtaking sight.

Beyond the Mysterious Beyond, indeed.

He let out a sigh as he admired the view, feeling all of his worries oozing away as he exhaled. After turning his head around to admire the night sky that stretched high above him, Petrie then proceeded to focus on a large star in the very center of the sky, one which was isolated from all the other random stars.

Ever since young, Petrie liked to believe that this star in particular was the embodiment of his lost father, a flyer whom he had not seen since he was a very young hatchling.

He would never forget the day that the mortifying news was disseminated to him and his siblings. One fine morning, he had woken up to his mother tearfully telling him and his stunned siblings that their father had disappeared… and that he would never be coming back. Ever.

It had literally happened out of the blue, giving his younger self no time to prepare. Back then, he couldn't even understand why his papa wasn't coming back and was therefore unable to properly grieve over the loss. But now that he was older and significantly wiser, Petrie didn't have to be a genius to understand what his mother's words implied behind her grief.

 _Can you see Petrie now, Dad?_

Petrie sighed wistfully as he talked to the star within his heart, a single tear forming in his eye. Even if he could no longer remember how his dad had looked like because of losing him at such a young age, Petrie still hoped within him that his father could at least proudly look down at him from the Great Beyond.

 _Me wish you can help me now, Dad_ , Petrie clasped his hands together, pleading with the glowing star. _Me already lose you when me no even one Cold Time old. It hurt, but at least me no lose anyone else close to me since then. But now, me may lose Ducky to bad swimmer!_

The very thought made Petrie choke up. He blinked back his tears, making a heartfelt wish up to the white star with all of his heart. _If Ducky need leave valley, that mean me can never see her again! Me… me no want lose me best friend!_

 _Daddy… you can help Petrie, right?_

"My, my, my… aren't _you_ looking like you're enjoying the scenery."

Petrie gasped at the intrusion, breaking out of his stupor and jolting himself upright as a monotonous voice suddenly echoed across the clearing from out of nowhere. Curious as to where it had come from, he glanced to his left and right but was unable to spot a single dinosaur around. Just as Petrie was about to dismiss it as his mind playing tricks on him, he heard the voice speak again, this time with mild annoyance laced in their tone.

"Honestly, I don't get it. Gazing up at the stars? Peh… just what's so interesting about a drab, muted gray sky?"

Petrie felt a chill go down his back when the sentence all but confirmed that the spoken words must be referring to him, as no one else around the vicinity happened to be looking up at the stars. Now certain that there was someone nearby who was spying on his actions, Petrie tried to get the other dinosaur to acknowledge their presence.

"Who there?" he cried as he darted his eyes all about, still unable to catch sight of the speaker. "Where you at?"

"Tsk, tsk…" A bit of amusement crept into the same voice. "Aren't you a flyer? Well, so am I! Take one guess, then — where do flyers always love to hang out around?"

 _Where flyers like hanging out around?_ Petrie pondered the cryptic riddle for a fleeting moment before the answer hit him.

 _Up in air!_

Taking the hint, he tilted his head up, finally tracing where the voice was coming from. At last Petrie was able to notice a small flyer around his size who he had never seen before, the mystery flyer in question perching himself on the branch of a tree. Petrie blinked as he took a step towards the tree to get a closer look at him.

Said flyer was of an unusual dark yellow coloration that reminded Petrie of shriveled up treestars. His wing color was punctuated by his dazzlingly bright golden irises, those eyes in particular looking at the grasslands that was all around him with an expression that could be best described as one of cold indifference.

However, when the flyer made eye contact with Petrie, an abrupt change swept across him. Within mere moments, the flyer's previously bored expression was gone and quickly replaced by one of unbridled glee as he smiled jovially, rubbing his wings together in excitement when he saw that he'd managed to get Petrie's attention.

"Bravo, bravo!" he applauded, slowly clapping in a cynical manner. His deep, low-pitched voice instantly put Petrie on edge, his wariness quickly justified by the mysterious flyer's next words. "You catch on rather quickly. That's a good attribute to have. Very good, indeed…"

"Who are you?" Petrie managed to croak at the unusual pterosaur. "Me never see you in Great Valley before," he noted.

He tilted his head back and let out a muffled laugh at Petrie's astute observation. "Well, of course you haven't. Unlike you, I'm not a valley resident."

"What you want with me?" Petrie whined, making his annoyance clear. He was quickly getting a bad omen from the other flyer's mocking tone. "Leave Petrie alone! Me have a lot on me mind!"

The yellow flyer's beak swung open very slightly. "Oh? Is that why you're taking this walk on this fine, cool night? You want to clear your head?" he asked, before dismissively shrugging at Petrie while holding his head high. "Well, not to worry. I'll be your listening ear. In fact, I can even help you with your problems!"

Petrie could only gape at the other flyer's offer to help. Not only had the flyer's tone when he made his remarks cause them to appear more derogatory than constructive, his complete refusal to make eye contact with Petrie and opting to instead disrespectfully peer towards the Night Circle was the final straw to Petrie. The offer had been made in such an insincere way that the already agitated Petrie pretty much lost control of his emotions in a brief moment of weakness.

"Hey! What you want!?" he flared up, shouting up to the flyer who was perching on the tree. "Why you here? To make fun of Petrie?"

"Make fun of you?" He fake-gasped at Petrie's accusation in an exaggerated manner, holding a hand up to his forehead to further insult Petrie by over-exaggerating his gestures. "Oh, you wound me!" he dramatically uttered, the flyer's voice the very definition of 'mockery'. "How could you even say that? Do you really think that of me?"

Petrie let out a low growl as the flyer continued to mock him indirectly. Perhaps on an ordinary day he might have been able to take the abuse. But for this stranger to act almost the same way that his siblings did on a day where he was near breaking point, the stressed-out Petrie found himself unable to seek refuge in silence for much longer. "Stop it! If you no have anything helpful to say, just leave Petrie alone!" he cawed in an upset voice.

Almost at once, the flyer's attitude switched a complete one-eighty. Gone was the bumbling joker from only a few moments prior. Where he had been chuckling at his own jokes earlier, there was now nothing but a serious expression adjourned on his beak. The change in personality and attitude was so jarring that Petrie performed a double-take, flinching back in shock.

With a stiff upper lip, the flyer spoke with hardened eyes. "Nothing helpful to say? Don't think so little of me, young flyer." His tone was now condescending. "You probably think that I'm wasting your time, huh? Well, you're wrong… dead wrong! I think you'll find that it's actually quite the contrary, Petrie…" He let out a brutal laugh as he glared down towards Petrie. "Heh, heh, heh… yes, I've heard about you before. You're the flyer who are friends with those other leaf-eater children, aren't you?"

His expression briefly turned vicious as he spoke, but within a second his scowl had disappeared, veiled under a mask of faux pleasantness. The mood whiplash was so sudden that Petrie had to rub his eyes just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.

"So what if me am?" Petrie shot back indignantly, trying and failing to maintain his calm composure. The other flyer's friendly yet mocking attitude, if it was ever there to begin with, had now completely vanished — replaced by one of scorn and brutal honesty.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just thought that it would be nice to let you know that your exploits have traveled far into the Mysterious Beyond." He brushed the tip of his wing, dusting himself off with his free wing. "Very, very far into the Mysterious Beyond," he repeated for emphasis as he stared unrelentingly at Petrie. "Very, very far…"

Petrie began to get the sinking feeling that the flyer perched up on the tree branch above was not exactly what he would call his friend. His next words only further supported this theory.

"You are a very unique flyer, Petrie." Somehow, those words of praise almost seemed like they weren't praises at all when they came from him. "That is the very reason I have sought you out on this lovely night."

There was silence for a moment after he completed his sentence, with the swaying grass that was being blown about by the soft breeze the only discernible noise in the surrounding area as the two flyers looked at each other.

Petrie felt a shiver going up his spine when the other flyer raised a brow at him. "Oh, where are my manners?" he suddenly muttered, breaking the silence and straightening up so that his entire body was illuminated under the pale white light of the Night Circle.

As Petrie stared at him with a stunned expression, the yellow flyer leaned forward, shifting his golden eyes to peer at Petrie. "It is customary to state one's name if we wish to know more about each other. Please, allow me to introduce myself…" He proceeded to take a bow, using his talons to grip firmly on the tree branch he was perching on to maintain his now precarious balance.

"Greetings, young Petrie. My name is Vekal. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." As he stated his identity, the flyer cackled without restraint while smugly patting his chest with one wing. "Remember it, young'un! For soon, the entire Mysterious Beyond will know that name!"

Petrie could only quirk his head in confusion at the gloating flyer. "Wh-what you talking about?" he ventured forward to ask, before stepping back when Vekal laughed venomously.

The pterosaur extended his wings outwards, which had the effect of making him appear even more menacing under the cool soft light of the Night Circle. "You poor, naïve flyer…" he muttered at Petrie, shaking his head confidently as his golden eyes gleamed with amusement. "You have no idea…"

His vague words only confounded Petrie further, causing him to storm a response at Vekal despite his own apprehensiveness. "What you talking about?" he frowned, repeating his question in hopes of getting a concrete answer. "You making no sense!"

However, Vekal was stuck in his own world, going off on a tangent and ignoring Petrie's complaints as he continued to speak. "I must say, it truly is a pleasure to have the honor of finally meeting you in person, Petrie. You know, flyer-to-flyer," Vekal admitted, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

"After all…" he patted his own chest, puffing it proudly outwards as his voice grew sinister, "I've been watching you and your friends for quite some time now…" He only trailed off when he saw that Petrie was getting visibly creeped out, the other flyer already putting pressure on his feet and getting himself ready to bolt away from what he was most likely assuming in his mind to be a clearly crazy flyer.

Vekal scowled at Petrie's impertinent behavior, clearing his throat and smiling to try lightening up the mood. Even so, Petrie could feel the tension in the air. It was like an invisible, strong force that buzzed around the surrounding area, causing Petrie to feel a constant tingling sensation on the surface of his wings.

A soft breeze blew across the clearing, causing trees to bristle slightly. Vekal could only chuckle at the rustling leaves, the yellow flyer finding it amusing that the weather itself seemed to be brimming with anticipation.

As it should be. The time of reckoning had come. All the pieces were in place. It was time for him to bait Petrie into the game. _His_ game.

 _At long last, it's finally time! Ducky and Petrie… the swimmer and flyer who crossed the species boundary…_

Vekal's eyes narrowed as he stared at the young flyer, looking intently at Petrie with a vicious glare that screamed of hatred. Words could not do justice to the sheer amount of loathing that his eyes held within them. The gaze that he shot was so fierce and intense that Petrie couldn't help but to stare back at Vekal with a feeling of mounting horror.

Petrie stepped back in terror, transfixed to the spot as he stared at the expression on Vekal's face. The other flyer was leering at him so maliciously that it was almost like watching two angry threehorns fight a dominance battle — the glare of hatred conveyed by the flyer's eyes alone could likely bore holes into solid rock. That hate-filled glare imprinted onto Petrie's mind instantaneously, and to Petrie's own horror, he found that he was unable to tear his eyes away from the terrifying sight.

That frazzled look was absolutely terrifying to look at. In spite of the fact that Vekal had spoken with nothing but absolute calmness since the start of their conversation, the grave look—one that was precariously teetered on the boundaries that governed sanity—that the other flyer was shooting from his golden eyes at that very moment hinted to Petrie that Vekal was more unhinged than he had initially appeared.

But the other flyer wasn't unhinged and stupid. Oh no, that would simply be too cliché — and among what Petrie could recall, only the eccentric yellowbellies fit that description. Rather scarily, while Vekal occasionally appeared to be mentally unhinged, it appeared as though the flyer had a clear intention and goal behind his incomprehensible actions…

…a truly terrifying combination.

Of course, Petrie had no idea what Vekal was actually thinking in his head while the other flyer was eyeing him. As a result, he was unable to tell that behind those primal eyes, Vekal was surprisingly quite sound. While he was glaring at the terrified Petrie, Vekal was actually laughing inwardly, a dark and triumphant vow crossing his mind.

 _With these two, I'll finally be able to prove it… yes, I will prove my theory right. No matter what it takes!_

At that thrilling thought, Vekal could only lift his head up to the sky above and let out a laugh that Petrie could only later describe as "insane". It was a single, chilling cackle that haunted the empty grasslands of the valley, lasting for much longer than it should have as the end of his holler ended up echoing throughout the plains, reverberating around the valley wall like an unwelcome buzzer.

When the haunting noise finally subsided, he redirected his gaze back down onto Petrie, who was already starting to breathe heavily. Calmly flapping his wings and beginning his descent from his vantage point, Vekal leisurely landed in front of a now-visibly worried Petrie, who immediately had a sudden feeling of dread settling within his belly.

The two flyers found themselves standing on level ground, the previous distance between them now completely gone. Vekal coolly made eye contact with Petrie, raising his eyebrow at the brown flyer in a fashion which suggested that he was prompting Petrie to make a move.

Unfortunately for Vekal, Petrie wasn't one who was keen to take initiative, especially towards someone he didn't trust. As a result, the conversation ended up stalling to a complete halt, devolving into a staring match between the two flyers, with a grumpy Vekal slowly getting more and more impatient as Petrie remained silent.

"Hmph!" Vekal finally snorted, rolling his eyes as he tapped his talons against the ground. "Forget this! I thought that since you're young and impressionable, perhaps I could get to know you better by making small talk. But I think that little plan has failed, since it appears that you're reluctant to even strike up a friendly chat with me…" he grumbled.

"Well, me—" Petrie started, only to find himself being interrupted as Vekal raised his head and laughed to the Night Circle.

"Ahahahaha! I'm such an idiot! Heh, I should have known not to even bother with the whole 'friendly' façade…"

Petrie really didn't like the sound of that comment, especially as he was able to hear the emphasis placed on the word 'friendly' thanks to Vekal's irony-laden tone. The inverted commas surrounding the word was obvious even to a casual listener. He shuddered and began to back away, only stopping when Vekal halted his laughter, the other flyer managing to calm himself down from his hysteria.

When the half-crazed Vekal lowered his head, the first thing that caught Petrie's attention was the wily look on the shifty flyer's eyes. "Since it's not needed, shall we perhaps dispose of this friendly charade?" he muttered roughly, looking at Petrie with gleaming eyes. "Let's get down to business, in the same manner that the dinosaurs in the Mysterious Beyond do their deals… quick, efficient, and to the point."

"Deal?" Petrie grew tense, shivering in fear. "What deal?"

"You'll soon see, Petrie. You'll soon see…" Vekal murmured cryptically as he extended his left wing into an unmarked shrub by the tree that he was perching on earlier. With a flourish, he proceeded to whip out a small shiny stone attached to a vine, which had been expertly hidden in the bush the entire time that the two had been speaking.

"Behold!" Vekal declared with a triumphant voice as he held the shiny stone up to the sky, revealing the object to Petrie as it dangled freely from his fingers. "What you see before you is _destiny_ itself!"

Petrie cocked his head, before squinting his eyes and shielding them with his wings when the shiny stone that Vekal was holding suddenly shone with a fiery intensity. "It glowing red!" he cried while pointing at the stone, which had turned a deep blood-red as it dangled freely in the air, hanging from the attached vine with the end of the loop tightly clasped in Vekal's hand.

"Really?" Vekal murmured, glancing to the shining stone at Petrie's remark before turning his head and looking up to the Night Circle. "Huh. How very peculiar… that was exactly what a swimmer had remarked to me long ago. He'd told me that the stone shines a vibrant red if you hold it up to the Night Circle. I suppose that eccentric pest was right all along…" he mused, tilting his head inquisitively while closing his hand around the glowing stone, grasping the object tightly.

Petrie noted that the other flyer had a peculiar expression on his face and decided to take a chance, his curiosity getting the better of him as he went ahead to ask Vekal about something that had been bugging him since the mud-yellow flyer had first appeared.

"Why you really here?" he asked Vekal with a determined face, trying not to let his anxiety show despite how much the other flyer creeped him out. "You say so much, but what you really want from Petrie?"

"Ahahahaha!" Vekal chortled with a smile, the wry grin on his beak only serving to make the situation even more uneasy. "So you finally figured out that I wasn't just here to strike up a friendly chat! Now, whatever tipped you off to that?"

Petrie ignored the insult and grumpily folded his wings. "Me no want you change subject! Answer me question! What you want with me?"

Vekal heaved a sigh and opened his palm by a fraction, letting red light from the glowing stone shine through his grip. "The answer to that is simple. I am here to make you an offer." His eyes narrowed dangerously as his voice turned pensive. "An offer that you cannot refuse…"

"Well, me no gonna take your offer!" Petrie immediately cut him off, deciding that he wasn't going to play any more games with the nutjob to his front. He spun around and flapped his wings, preparing to take to the skies and leave the loony Vekal behind.

"Oh, really?" Vekal appeared to sound briefly upset by Petrie's refusal. "Well, if that's your decision, don't blame me when your swimmer friend gets together with that other swimmer…"

Petrie almost crashed head-first to the ground as he hastily aborted his flight when he heard those words. "What…!?" he muttered in shock, stumbling around to gape at a smirking Vekal with an open beak. "H-how you know about that?!"

"As I said… I've been eyeing you and your friends for quite some time." Vekal shook his head with a cunning expression. "Did you think I was lying, Petrie? Hmph… the nerve of you!" he spat, kicking at the ground and sending blades of grass flying with his talons.

As Petrie groggily got up from the ground, he saw Vekal strut towards him. "I did not tell a single lie throughout our entire conversation," the flyer informed a surprised Petrie with a completely serious voice. "Not even one."

Sporting a proud expression at this boast, Vekal continued on, "Which means, of course, that what I'd said from the very beginning was true. I told you that I would be your listening ear and that I would help with your problems. Hahahaha! Contrary to what you might think, I meant every last word…"

Petrie could only stare silently as Vekal began to pace back and forth, his mind now a maelstrom of emotions.

"That's right. I know _exactly_ what you want," Vekal smirked at the unmoving Petrie, knowing that he'd now earned the other flyer's full attention. "You want your precious little friend to stay in the Great Valley, don't you? Yes, that swimmer. She's named Ducky, isn't she?"

Petrie gasped and fell backwards when he heard his friend's name being casually mentioned. _H-how this guy know so much!?_ He could understand Vekal knowing his name since he himself had a tendency to state his own name due to the way that he talked. But as for Ducky? Now that was a completely different story. He knew for a fact that he hadn't mentioned Ducky to Vekal even once throughout the entire conversation.

So how could a flyer who he'd never seen before like Vekal even know about Ducky? A mounting sense of fear mingled with a small tinge of curiosity in his heart as Petrie suddenly felt very vulnerable.

Perhaps, was Vekal being truthful about watching him and the gang?

"That's right, Petrie. I know all about your little adventures together…" Vekal paused as Petrie gasped in shock.

The yellow flyer stopped speaking to admire Petrie's face, which was now stricken with fear. Vekal chuckled inwardly, taking great joy in watching Petrie squirm by showing the oblivious flyer just how much sway he actually held over the situation.

It was a simple trick, really. Strike when they were vulnerable.

All he did was simply make an intelligent guess as to what the other flyer was internally thinking about. By guessing successfully and answering Petrie's unspoken question, he had been able to catch his opponent completely off guard.

Knowledge meant power. Power meant control.

He relished the gratifying sense of having that control for a while longer before continuing his spiel with a carefree shrug, "Wouldn't it be a terrible shame if you were to lose her because of mere emotions that are out of your control? Ah, so close to the Time of Great Growing. Now, that can really wreak havoc on—"

"STOP!" Petrie yelled, breathing heavily as he cut Vekal off with a shout. "M-me heard… enough…"

"Oh?" Vekal inquisitively raised his eyebrows, calmly strolling towards a trembling Petrie. "What do you mean?"

"Me… me know you know a lot about me and Ducky." Petrie recoiled back as he heard his own words, before swallowing his fear and asking the question which he knew Vekal wanted to hear. "B-but can you… really help me no make it happen? You know… Ducky and Ferris?"

"Of course I can!" Vekal seemed quite annoyed by the fact that Petrie was still doubting his claim. "You think a mere swimmer is a match for me or the power that this shiny stone bestows!?" he snarled, his eyes growing dark. "Well, he's not, and neither is his herd! They're all worthless scum, soon to be swept asunder by the _specter of death!_ "

Vekal then noticed from observing the cowering Petrie that he had let his emotions run wild again. He coughed out of embarrassment, before looking at Petrie with an expression that the flyer couldn't decipher.

"Anyway, here's the deal. I will give you this shiny stone," he said to Petrie, opening his wing to place the stone in question on full display, letting it glow a dazzling red under the light of the Night Circle. "I assure you that with this stone in your possession, you will be able to prevent your friend from being stolen away by the clutches of unfair love."

Vekal made eye contact with Petrie, extending the wing holding the shiny stone out to the apprehensive young flyer. "So, what do you say? Do you accept?"

Petrie remained skeptical. "What? You only giving Petrie shiny stone? How can that tiny little stone cause Ducky to stay in valley?" he questioned. "You sure you no telling fib?"

"I would never lie!" Vekal swiftly countered, shooting Petrie an annoyed scowl at the very thought before growling under his breath. "Grrrr… even now you still don't trust me? Don't you want to save your friend, Petrie?!"

Vekal's harsh reprimand caused Petrie to reflect. Was that shiny stone really worth it?

He was driving a hard bargain, and his deal hinged on an on-the-spur decision. Petrie frowned when he realized that Vekal had planned things out this way — by insisting on a strict time limit before closing his offer, he had effectively tied Petrie's wings behind his back. Now, Petrie was quickly forced to make a swift decision, leaving him unable to seek an outside opinion or take his time to analyze the deal comprehensively.

"That's it." Petrie heard Vekal snap, looking towards the yellow flyer and seeing him retract the wing that had been previously holding the stone out. "I grow weary of this. I've already spent more time than necessary here."

His eyes briefly shifted towards Petrie, before hovering back up to the sky. "I'm going to count to three… and my offer _will_ rescind if I hit three."

Petrie stared at Vekal in confusion, prompting the other flyer to realize that Petrie wasn't sure of the meaning of the word 'rescind'.

"In other words, my deal will no longer be valid on the count of three," he clarified as Petrie looked at him in horror. "If you still choose not to believe me, then so be it. If you're that willing to risk it, let fate and our ancestors decide this! We'll say our goodbyes, and the two of us will never have to see each other ever again."

Vekal lowered his head and cackled with a crooked smile. "But if that decision causes you to lose Ducky… then I suppose you have no one to blame but yourself."

Petrie audibly gulped, the flyer horrified by Vekal's sudden change in behavior. After being so incessant about his offer to him… was he really going to quit, just like that?

"I'll say this only once. Should I go, you won't ever be able to receive this generous offer again." Vekal lowered his voice, his golden eyes glinting in the moonlight. "This is a one-time deal. Either you take it up and stop me from leaving, or I'll leave the valley and hand the shiny stone to someone who is more grateful for it than you currently are."

He extended his wingspan to their full length as though he was preparing to use them to take to the dark skies above. "Choose wisely, Petrie…" he warned.

Petrie's jaw dropped as he heard Vekal's tone. It was completely serious, without a single trace of deceit behind it. And much to his horror, he soon heard Vekal starting the countdown.

"One…"

 _H-he being serious about this!_ Petrie's mind went into overdrive as he frantically considered his options.

On first glance, the obvious choice was to accept the deal. If he were to reject the deal, he would lose the shiny stone. Whereas if he were to accept, he would simply receive it. There were no obvious drawbacks to taking Vekal's offer.

But to be frank, something about Vekal rubbed Petrie the wrong way even now. The very thought of accepting something from him seemed fishy, especially concerning his immense knowledge of the situation.

"Two…"

Petrie began to sweat when Vekal looked at him expectantly. As the terrifying possibility of Vekal flying the coop grew larger and larger, he began to fret.

 _What me to do? Should me take shiny stone, or no take shiny stone? Me no even know what shiny stone even do? Will it actually help keep Ducky from Ferris, or is it useless rock like that time Uncle Pterano find Stone of Cold Fire?_

 _But what if it actually do what Vekal say it do and me him let fly away with it!?_

Even worse, all of a sudden Petrie recounted something of significance that Vekal had said earlier during their talk.

" _I did not tell a single lie throughout our entire conversation. Not even one."_

That statement had stuck out to Petrie when he had first heard it. For some reason, the way that Vekal had proudly postured when he bragged about it made Petrie inclined to believe him.

But if he was being serious with his words and truly went by those morals, then following that logic also meant that Vekal would hold true to his promise and fulfill his end of his threat… implying that he wasn't doing this for show. In other words, he would actually close off the deal and leave the Great Valley should Petrie not stop him.

Still, there was a slim chance that this was all merely a ploy by that conniving Vekal to convince him to accept under pressure. _What if he playing trick on Petrie just so me say yes to him? Well, me no gonna fall for that!_

"Thr—"

Petrie's heart almost leapt out of his chest when he heard a disappointed Vekal mouth the beginning of the number '3'.

It was then that he made a split-second decision.

He knew that he would never forgive himself if Vekal was being truthful in his offer to help and he ended up throwing away the opportunity. Even though it was against his better judgement and his usual cautious nature, Petrie found that he could no longer resist the temptation and decided to risk it all, gambling that Vekal was being genuine about his offer to help.

"Okay!" Petrie answered with a firm voice before Vekal could complete his countdown. "You win! Me take your deal! Me just no want Ducky leave valley!"

Almost at once, Vekal smirked, laughing heartily when he saw Petrie give in and accept the offer that he'd been given. "Congratulations. You are a smart flyer, Petrie," he beamed in what Petrie would call the first genuine smile that he'd seen from the other flyer.

"No mention it," Petrie droned, not wanting Vekal to gain any satisfaction out of getting exactly the reaction he wanted when he was forced to accept. "Just give me shiny stone and tell me how me can use it to stop Ducky from leaving valley!"

"Where's the fun in that?" Vekal asked with much amusement. "I'd rather you discover it for yourself…"

Petrie could only sigh at the answer he was given, slowly making his way forward when Vekal beckoned for him to come closer. "I bestow upon you, one shiny stone!" he triumphantly told Petrie, handing him the shiny stone with a smile that Petrie could not interpret.

He couldn't tell whether it was joy, or something more… sinister.

With much trepidation, Petrie took it from him, admiring the glowing red stone. Upon closer inspection, it looked rather different from the regular shiny stones he'd seen before. Besides the unusual vine threaded through it in a circular loop, the shiny stone itself appeared to have a second shiny stone embedded within it, encased within a transparent shell that comprised the outer layer of the shiny stone.

And to Petrie's amazement, it was actually that innermost portion which was mythically glowing red under the Night Circle, refracted out with an eerie glow as the red light passed through the outer transparent layer.

It was now quite clear to him that this was no ordinary stone. Not in the slightest.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Vekal murmured in a soft voice, smiling when he noted that Petrie had found himself mesmerized by the stone. "To be honest, I didn't even know that it glowed red under the Night Circle until you'd confirmed it." He appeared briefly uncomfortable at the admission, but quickly recovered. "Anyway, I think you can tell by now that this stone is more than it seems. Please, place the loop around your neck. The stone is meant to be worn on your body."

Petrie did as Vekal said without hesitation, now more confident than ever that whatever this stone was, its power was legitimate.

In fact, he was so entranced by the soft glow of the shiny stone that he didn't notice Vekal smirking vicariously as he hooked the glowing shiny stone around his neck, letting the small jewel rest forlornly by the fluffy scruff of his neck.

"The next step is to just relax and think of your precious little Ducky. Close your eyes and think about your swimmer friend," Vekal commanded, the flyer's smile growing wider as Petrie blissfully closed his eyes and began to imagine just that.

Images and joyful memories of his best friend filled his head. Seeing her giggling visage and bubbly personality in his mind made Petrie smile involuntarily. His eyes still shut, Petrie heard Vekal's voice from around his front. "Now, inside your mind, just imagine saving her from that dreadful swimmer…"

Those words made Petrie cringe, a sinking feeling creeping up on him. He could clearly recall seeing the pale green swimmer for the first time and remembering just how much he had shivered when he heard Ferris' determined proclamation.

" _I was so enchanted by your beauty from the very instant I saw you… that I simply must propose to you!"_

Jovi's warning then rang out immediately after, the worried swimmer's voice echoing in his mind.

" _If your swimmer friend Ducky successfully gets hitched with ol' Ferris… then it's too bad for all of your close friendships. Because I'm afraid it would mean that she'll have no choice but to leave with our herd when we eventually head back out to the Mysterious Beyond!"_

Petrie shuddered at that possibility, before all the joyful memories of Ducky made their way to the forefront of his mind. As he remembered all the precious moments that he had shared together with her in the valley and in all their adventures, the flyer promptly made a solemn promise to himself within his heart.

 _Ducky no going to leave valley… because me no going to let you have Ducky, Ferris! Me swear it!_

All of a sudden, the red glow around the stone brightened, the light turning so blisteringly bright that Petrie was forced out of his meditation, jolting his eyes open in surprise. An instant after that, he yelped in pain and fell to his knees as a searing sensation shot through him. It was almost as though the shiny stone was melting into him, and rather painfully to boot.

He used his wing to grab ahold of his neck and tried to remove the stone, but to no avail. Alas, the energy to even unhook the stone from his neck wouldn't come, with Petrie realizing to his terror that even moving the tendons and muscles in his wings now required a disproportionately large effort, one which he couldn't muster up. As a result, for a time he remained frozen in that pose, which made him look as though he was strangling himself.

 _Wh-what happening to… yargh!_

Petrie was unable to process even a single thought as pain shot through his figure. His mind was literally on fire and his body fared no better, convulsing uncontrollably as though he was suffering a seizure. All he wanted to do was scream, but alas, his vocal chords were unable to process more than a gurgle that sounded almost like a dying dinosaur's death rattle.

Finally, as he fell to the ground, the pain gave him a brief reprieve, allowing him to regain some of his biological processes. Unfortunately for Petrie, the first thing he was able to discern with his renewed senses was a dark chuckle.

"Heheheheh…"

Tilting his head up, Petrie could see Vekal standing over him as his vision began to grow blurry. "So you've committed yourself to this choice…" Vekal snorted, taunting the flyer on the ground with a sardonic smirk as Petrie started to gasp for air.

His eyelids growing heavy, Petrie choked out a plea for help. "Wh-what you do… to Petrie…?" he wheezed at Vekal, beginning to see double of the yellow flyer as his vision grew misty. "He-help me!"

There was no reply at first. As Petrie cried and clawed at the dirt on the ground pathetically with his talons, he eventually managed to hear a curt response.

"…I sincerely hope that you don't already regret your choice."

That was Vekal, the flyer muttering the statement with a hard edge to his voice as he stepped forward. He sounded so bored and insincere that it almost seemed like he didn't even care about Petrie, despite the fact that Petrie was writhing in agony right in front of him.

Unable to parse the reply he had been given at first, Petrie quickly grew furious when he realized that Vekal was, quite bluntly, mocking him. If he was physically able to, Petrie would have stood up and yelled at the unconcerned pterosaur.

Because as of this current moment, he was most definitely regretting his previous decision. He didn't know what the shiny stone was, but unlike what the flyer had claimed, it didn't seem like it was going to help with Ducky's problem at all. On the contrary, whatever it was doing to him was anything but helpful.

Why, oh why, had he even trusted this mystery flyer to begin with?

 _Oh, Ducky! Me so sorry,_ Petrie managed to apologize in his mind. _M-Me only… wanted to… help…_

But even his own mind couldn't save him from the unbelievable pain that was coursing through his veins. The last thing that a desperate Petrie was able to see before blacking out was an indifferent Vekal looming over him with a disappointed look, the flyer opening his beak dismissively before letting out a final remark.

"Not to fret, the pain will be over quite soon. I assure you, the first time's always the hardest." With the last of his strength Petrie was able to hear Vekal's voice turning wistful, almost… melancholic.

Before Petrie could take solace in Vekal's assuring-yet-not-really-at-the-same-time reassurance, a cruel chuckle permeated his ears as Vekal spoke to him again. As a final irony, the laments from the ominous flyer managed to reach Petrie's ears before everything could go black for him. Vekal's next words in particular echoed throughout Petrie's hazy mind as he made the spasming flyer a harrowing promise.

"But after that, it's like ecstasy, pure ecstasy! The shiny stone… you'll _never_ want to let it go…"

Mercifully, just as Vekal had promised him, the sharp pain suddenly diminished in intensity. The pain ended up leaving his body as abruptly as it had come… albeit at the cost of his consciousness. Once Petrie blacked out, any final bursts of pain completely ebbed away along with his field of vision.

But although the only color that the limp Petrie could perceive was a pure inky blackness due to his lack of consciousness, the luminous stone obscured beneath his spreadeagled body instead shone a dim, uncanny red in stark contrast.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And now the plot is starting to fall into place…

Here's a pretty important chapter in the grand scheme of things, and it's one which is concluded by quite the evil cliffhanger. To be frank, having one of these was all but inevitable sooner or later. :)

Well, it's no secret ever since the prologue that our mysterious flyer was going to be a catalyst for trouble. But in this chapter, the ominous yellow-toned pterosaur has finally revealed his name: that of the cunning, smooth-talking Vekal. And with that, he has also simultaneously made his move on Petrie, with disastrous consequences as a result…

By the way, if Vekal happened to sound a lot like a persistent salesperson while trying to convince Petrie to accept… well, let's just say that I personally ran into my fair share of promoters trying to get me to buy electronic products during the Black Friday sale period. :P

Fun fact: there's an actual name for a gemstone that's encased and composited with another gemstone — it's called a _doublet_ gemstone, and it's actually something which doesn't occur naturally. However, it does crop up in man-made jewelry, an example being an opal doublet, which consists of a thin layer of solid opal adhered to clear quartz or even synthetic materials. And yes, I lavishly described the full appearance of the shiny stone in the prose itself solely because there is no feasible way that anyone in the LBT universe would ever use the term "doublet".

…

 **DiddyKF1:** Your hunch is correct, although whether or not Petrie's feelings of determination and fear regarding Ferris has benefitted him after what has happened in this chapter is anyone's guess. About your point on character flaws in particular, I don't actively try to make everyone flawed, but having one or two quirks does indeed help to make these characters feel more natural and organic.

 **Guest:** Uh, yes? It will happen… eventually, that is. Do you happen to be the same guest from Chapter 2? If so, chill out, lol. I've got this, dude. :P

 **Keijo6:** Thanks for your review and the constructive criticism as well. Upon rereading I do find myself agreeing with you on most of your points. I'll work on them, although on the part of Geoffrey's name I feel like I should confess that coming up with creative names has unfortunately never been my strong suit, but I'll try my best to avoid a repeat of all those points in the future.

 **Rhombus:** For some reason I'm now picturing Ducky being constantly hounded by a persistent swimmer and it's making me laugh and cringe in equal parts. Nope, nope, nope, indeed. I hope that the way Petrie reacted to the news in the first half of this installment was satisfying to read through… at least before the rollercoaster of the latter half of the chapter ends up turning his initial relief into terror and basically forces his hand after Vekal makes his unconditional offer to "help".

 **TimeLordMaster108:** Ah, thanks. This tale might not be all that original on the whole, but I'll try my best to put my own spin on things. As to Ferris and his motives, you'll just have to see when and if he'll make his move. After all, he's far from being the only player in the game — Vekal has his own plans…

…

Unfortunately, it would appear that Vekal's deal has backfired in a truly terrifying way for Petrie. What will become of our favorite perky flyer, and will he end up being alright? Ah, you'll just have to wait and hope for the best!


	5. Dawn of a New Petrie

**Chapter 5: Dawn of a New Petrie**

If the Bright Circle represented hope in the face of despair, then the Night Circle represented reflection in the aftermath of calamity.

A lone swimmer despondently gazed up to the night sky from her nest, a troubled expression on her face as she serenely admired the Night Circle in the sky. A wistful sigh escaped her beak after she gazed at the white circle that stood grand and high, contrasting heavily upon the darkened backdrop.

"I do not like this one bit," Ducky mumbled to herself, her voice carried on the soft breeze which blew across the grasslands. "Nope, nope, nope…" she proceeded to add her triple affirmation as an afterthought.

Right now, her current state of mind was best summed up as being in a jumbled flurry of confused emotions. And it was all thanks to one thing — the most unusual proposal that she had been offered earlier by one odd swimmer, the eccentric Ferris.

After all, being told that someone liked you— _liked liked_ you—wasn't really an experience that she went through every day. While it was certainly an exhilarating and jubilant feeling… it was also one which filled her with unease and dread.

To say that she was being humble about the whole affair was an understatement. She had actually enjoyed Ferris' unilateral words of praise, as much as she was loath to admit the fact — it was oddly flattering to receive a compliment of her looks from an outsider.

It was everything else about the swimmer that bugged Ducky.

Ferris wasn't exactly subtle about his whole "let's live together for the rest of our lives" spiel, which Ducky wouldn't have minded as much if he hadn't been so adamantly pushy about the whole matter. It was a form of steadfast persistence that was unparalleled by anyone that she'd met prior to him. Only threehorns were supposed to earn the right to be that stubborn, and rather ironically, the swimmer was so obstinate that he had even managed to tick an actual threehorn like Cera off.

Quite the achievement, she admitted to herself with a chortle. _He is such a bothersome swimmer. He is, he is._

She then tapped her beak with a finger, contemplating about the swimmer. Despite all of his accentuated negative traits, Ducky found herself forced to admit that as of this point, she couldn't completely exclude Ferris out of her life. After all, in spite of his less than desirable behavior, the swimmer hadn't actually done anything that was unforgivably terrible as of yet.

The problem was that Ferris was stressing his point to such a great extent that he had driven it into the ground like the foot of a grownup longneck standing on pieces of a crushed treestar — his words being so insistent that they were on the verge of crossing the point of annoyance.

Now, being super incessant and pushy on getting something that one wanted wasn't always a bad thing. After all, Ducky couldn't count the number of times that she and her friends had pleaded with their parents until they eventually gave in — it had a scarily high success rate. And if it worked, why change such a tactic?

Only when she found herself on the opposite end of the balance did Ducky realize that she didn't like it when she happened to be in the position of the party who was being coerced to accept, her friends' very own trick being ruthlessly exploited against her by Ferris. She didn't like it at all, nope, nope, nope!

"Mmmppffthhh…"

Ducky smiled despite herself as she turned to her lumbering spiketail brother. Speaking of being pesky and insistent to get the attention of others…

Spike grunted again to confirm that his sister had all her eyes on him. Once he had affirmative proof that she wasn't lost in her own thoughts like when she was gazing at the Night Circle earlier, he proceeded to use his snout to gesture towards their mother, who just so happened to be lying on her belly at the other side of their nest.

Ducky's eyebrows momentarily knitted in confusion, before her blue eyes widened as she realized the action which her brother was recommending her to do. "Spike! This is not a good idea," she admonished, hastily refusing to entertain Spike's suggestion by wildly waving her hands about. "I most definitely cannot tell our Mama about what I am feeling right now. I am certain that it will not end well if I do. Oh, no, no, no!"

Spike could only quizzically look at her at her steadfast refusal. He continued to lock eyes with Ducky until she relented under his piercing gaze and responded to the unspoken question.

"Um, well… I just do not feel comfortable telling her about Ferris," she admitted to Spike with a shudder, taking a seat right beside the spiketail's body and yawning as she leaned on his stumpy foot.

Spike tilted his head back, looking at Ducky and prodding his sister in the beak with his nose to prompt her to explain more.

"Well…" Ducky drawled, the swimmer realizing that she wasn't going to get out of Spike's interrogation. "…I do not know, Spike. He is very stubborn, but it does feel nice to have someone who… oh, I just do not know," she blurted out, her thought process screeching to a halt as her mind went blank. "I feel all funny, Spike!"

Spike nodded slowly, all ears for his sister. "Mmmffthhh," he grunted, shifting about to affectionately lick Ducky with his tongue.

"Stop it, Spike!" she protested to no avail. "Now is not the time! I am so sleepy…" she complained as she let out a big yawn. "It is far too late for this. It is, it is!"

After jumping about to avoid her brother's oncoming onslaught, she eventually relented and let Spike have his way.

His presence was soothing to Ducky, therapeutic for her stress. After she had to deal with a swimmer like Ferris which deviated greatly from her normal routine with her friends, it was nice to have a constant like Spike around to keep her grounded in reality. At least her spiketail brother was still the exact same Spike that he always had been since the day they first met.

"Thank you, Spike," she thanked with a fond smile, covering her mouth with her hand as she yawned again.

Hearing Ducky thank him, Spike slumped back down on the grassy ground, poking his sister with his snout one final time in his own attempt to lull the formerly overexcited swimmer to sleep.

"Good night, Spike…" Ducky slurred in response, letting out an exhausted yawn. She eventually closed her eyes and uneasily tried her best to let the sweet embrace of sleep take her to sleep story land, which was easier said than done as her mind was still active, unconsciously thinking about the events that had happened earlier in the day. After a few brief moments of tossing and turning, however, she did manage to doze off, comfortably snoozing against Spike's thigh.

Instead of a dreamless night, Ducky found herself having multiple sleep stories in rapid succession. And in each and every one of those incredibly realistic sleep stories, the swimmer found herself forced into a situation which caused her to contemplate about her future — a possible future with a supportive, charismatic swimmer by her side.

But was that what she _really_ wanted?

Honestly, Ducky didn't know herself, as the current sleep story would always end when the key question was posed and replaced by another sleep story before she could make a decision within her sleep story and let her imagination play out a hypothetical scenario. The consistent and repetitive nature of her sleep stories and her inability to answer the question left her growing more and more frustrated as the night slowly passed.

When dawn finally broke and Ducky found herself waking up for real after suffering through those lucid sleep stories which plagued her throughout, causing her to suffer from an excruciatingly bad sleep, the dazed swimmer let out a cry of delight as she rubbed her reddened eyes.

Ducky was never happier to see the Bright Circle peeking from the horizon. At least now that she was awake and firmly rooted in reality, she would be able to make a choice regarding Ferris and her future without having the decision be robbed away from her by her own maelstrom of thoughts.

Yep, yep, yep!

* * *

But not everyone was happy to be greeted by the Bright Circle.

A slumbering figure groaned as the harsh rays of the Bright Circle assaulted his eyes, his head throbbing as he lay prone on the grass below him.

 _O-Oh… me aching head… what happen to Petrie… why me not at nest with Mom… and siblings—_

He jolted up with a start as the events of the previous night hit him as hard as a raging threehorn slamming into his frail body. In fact, he shot up so quickly that he lost balance and almost keeled over, falling on his knees onto the soft grass.

It didn't take him long to conclude that the events of the previous night wasn't a sleep story. The fact that he was awake next to a body of water that was close to where he was at yesterday instead of the nest was enough proof. Petrie groggily blinked his eyes, instinctively reaching for the shiny stone that had been fastened around his neck.

His eyes widened, a cry of disbelief escaping him.

It wasn't there. The shiny stone had _vanished_.

That was the first thing he noted.

The second thing he observed was that his body appeared to be different.

Petrie reeled backwards with a horrified gasp as he caught sight of his own image, which was being reflected on the calm surface of the water along with the breaking rays of the Bright Circle at dawn.

He lurched backwards, rubbing his eyes with his wings… no, his _hands_.

Wait, his hands… what!?

Petrie's reflection on the water surface wasn't that of the flyer who he once was before falling into that dark slumber from the shiny stone given by Vekal. In stark contrast, the image shown on the clear surface was instead one… of a swimmer — a hadrosaur similar to Ducky in stature, albeit with a dark gray coloration, the color almost like the pure black of night.

It didn't take long for him to process that he _was_ the black swimmer.

He choked out a strangled cry, a horrified scream caught in his throat and unable to escape his beak. There was no way for Petrie to describe what he was currently feeling — it was a feeling akin to that of one being in a sinking pit of growing despair and desperation, especially as he realized that this was no sleep story.

"Finally caught up on your beauty sleep, Petrie? You were snoozing like a hatchling, out like the Bright Circle dipping below in the distance as the Night Circle duly claims its rightful place in the night sky."

Petrie croaked as he heard the comparison, his eyes flitting over to the source of the voice.

Nope. Definitely not a sleep story. If only it was.

There he was, roosting on a branch as though nothing was wrong. The same dirt-yellow flyer from last night. Vekal.

Although the current appearance of the blasted flyer in question wasn't quite as foreboding under the Bright Circle instead of the Night Circle, there was no doubt in Petrie's mind that he was a force to be reckoned with.

Last night, Vekal had claimed to be benevolent and sympathetic to Petrie's plight. But by the onset of dawn, Petrie knew that he was anything but. The lopsided grin which the smarmy flyer currently had on his beak was simply the sweet bubble juice on the tree sweet.

Eventually Petrie managed to steel himself and demand an answer about his current predicament from Vekal. "Wh-what you do to Petrie!?"

Vekal snorted at the question, promptly feigning ignorance as best as he could. "Well, what does it look like to you?" he fired back at Petrie, turning the question right back at him. "I did _exactly_ as I said I would."

Petrie froze, stiffening at his words. He had been ready to fire another accusation at Vekal, but upon reflecting, it didn't take long for him to realize that the smarmy flyer hadn't actually been telling a lie — Vekal had worded the conversation in such a way that he'd never brought up what the shiny stone would actually do.

He felt a sour taste in his mouth. Much to Petrie's disdain, he realized that Vekal had thoroughly fooled him. He narrowed his eyes, using his own pair to peer into the vicious golden ones that adorned Vekal's face.

Petrie squinted, trying to extrapolate exactly what the flyer was planning, now well aware that he was a smooth and conniving talker who would say anything just to succeed in his endeavors. It reminded him of the cunning Rinkus who had tricked his Uncle Pterano with sweet words that lured his uncle into a false sense of security.

He had already hated Rinkus for his betrayal—it'd indirectly led to his uncle's exile two and a half Cold Times ago—so it went without saying that without needing much coaxing at all, he already felt nothing but anger and hatred towards Vekal.

One callous flyer with a manipulative mind that befitted and complemented said flyer's formal style of speech was enough. Petrie didn't need, want, or hope for two of them. He'd fly himself into a rock face before dealing with that.

…if he could actually fly right now, that was. Petrie's initial shock over his current lack of wings was slowly becoming replaced by a dawning feeling of despair and horror.

His wings were gone. His _wings!_

After a short pause, Vekal fluttered over to Petrie with carefree abandon. Amazingly, Vekal had the gall to play oblivious and act as though nothing was wrong, that everything was still firmly etched in status quo.

Of course they both knew that it wasn't true, but Vekal appeared to be starchily insistent on going through the motions in a similar way as that of the silent adults watching the antics of their more outspoken counterparts in a valley meeting — seriously, Petrie could not understand grownups. His mom was one of the few exceptions… well, most of the time, at least.

As Vekal touched down on the ground, he smirked at Petrie. "I'll say, this new look suits you." His tone made the comment sound like a mix between a snide insult and a genuine compliment. "Unlike previously, you have an incredibly dark shade…"

And with that one sentence, the delicate balance that Vekal had crafted with his words tipped, his snide and choleric persona winning out over his false sincerity. On Petrie's end, he felt himself shaking in anger upon hearing that single statement. "You trying to make fun of Petrie?" he hissed, "Of course me dark shade! You no can see me become all black!?" Petrie continued lashing out at Vekal, the transformed swimmer kicking up a storm, his usual apprehensive personality completely vanished under a wave of unbridled anger.

In fact, his outburst was so unexpected that Vekal even took a tentative step back with his talons, in spite of the fact that the flyer's indifferent smirk never left his face even though he had been caught by surprise. "I never said—" Vekal started, only to find himself being assaulted with a sarcastic reply from Petrie, the flyer having provoked Petrie's ire.

"You no say?" Petrie spat in a rather Cera-esque way that the threehorn would be proud of had she been here, "Just like you pretend you no can see me become swimmer now!? You trying to be blind flyer like Swooper?"

Vekal subconsciously blinked his amber eyes repeatedly—those yellow irises seemingly glinting under the warm yellow rays coming from the Bright Circle—before scowling and shaking his head in disappointment. "Now, that accusation was rather uncalled for," he chided in a manner and tone which was rather reminiscent of Petrie's own mother. "Tsk, tsk. Is that any way to treat your benefactor?" Vekal clucked his beak, reprimanding Petrie with faux anger that was clearly meant in jest, "Temper, temper, Petrie. I must say, I'm sorely disappointed by your behavior. Surely your parents raised you better than that?"

There was an uneasy silence after that remark, the only thing that could be heard in the area being the rustling of treestars blown about by the wind.

Eventually, Petrie snapped out of his stupor, bringing his head up and glaring daggers at Vekal. Any remaining traces of his earlier uneasiness was now gone, summarily replaced by simmering agitation. "You leave me Mom out of this, Vekal," he seethed, the vitriol in his voice detectable by even the most ignorant of dinosaurs. The fact that he referred to Vekal on first-name basis also highlighted how furious Petrie was.

Insulting his parents—technically Uncle Pterano was almost like a surrogate father to him—was a sore point for Petrie, as Cera could attest. Vekal had crossed the line twice over now, and Petrie was going to make sure that the flyer took back those words. "Petrie want you say you sorry!" he proceeded to demand as an addendum.

Vekal appeared to be more contrite after Petrie rounded onto him. In fact, when he next spoke, his voice was lower in volume and even had a twinge of remorse. "Alright, I will admit that I'd gone too far there… but that said, I won't take back my words." Petrie opened his mouth to protest, but Vekal stepped forward and muttered a warning under his breath before he could get a word out. "Believe me, the grownups aren't always right…" Vekal snorted, his eyes flashing dangerously, "…not in the slightest."

He shook his head, a haunted look briefly appearing across his features before it vanished like a flyer in the distance. Before Petrie could comment, Vekal stood at attention and cackled to himself. "Ahahaha! That is why we young'uns should be in charge of our own destinies! No one shall dictate my fate… _no one_!" he declared with a vicious grin, clenching the fingers by his wingtips in glee as the flyer looked up to the sky.

"And you are no exception, my dear Petrie. Your fate, and that of your friend, can still be changed," he said, flashing a toothy grin at Petrie. "That is, in essence, the reason why I oh-so-graciously offered you the shiny stone!" Knowing that he'd now snagged Petrie's attention, he barreled on, pacing back and forth. "Why let someone enamored with your friend sweep her off her feet when you can change the outcome? Nothing is set in stone as of yet, so I'll recommend for you not to hesitate before it is too late…"

"Why you helping Petrie?" Petrie snapped, his eyes filled with confusion. "Me thought you no care about me!"

"Eh? What makes you think that? I'm pretty sure I made it quite clear yesterday night that I have a vested interest in witnessing the outcome of your scuffle with your swimmer friend and that other stupid swimmer from the herd." Vekal narrowed his eyes, dejectedly shaking his head. "Oh… don't tell me that you refuse to trust me now?"

The glare that Petrie had on his face could answer Vekal's question without any spoken words.

The flyer nonchalantly shrugged in response to that, making his disdain of Petrie's lack of confidence in his words very clear to the swimmer. "Well, my dear Petrie…" he started, "…let me I assure you that a dinosaur's trust is easier to earn than you might think."

Petrie huffed in response. "That no true. Me already no trust you! Me no trust you from start! You only trick Petrie take shiny stone night before because you say you leaving valley!"

"Now, now. Don't be like that. You did that of your own accord. Despite what my behavior might imply, I do sincerely wish for you to succeed in your quest."

"Yeah, right," Petrie grumbled sarcastically, shooting him an annoyed glare. "Me think you want see me fail, then you laugh at Petrie."

"Ouch! Is that what you honestly think? You wound me, Petrie!" Vekal gasped in mock sadness, holding his wings to his heart and curling up in an exaggerated fashion as though he'd been physically scarred by the words. "After everything I've done to help you, you repay your benefactor like this? You really hurt my feelings, you know?"

"Me no care how you feel." The words were spoken with disdain.

"Mind your manners, Petrie." The flyer interjected with a chuckle, before shaking his head and shooting him a shifty look. "That is, unless you wish to remain stuck as a swimmer forever."

The newly transformed swimmer paled. "Wh-what!?" Petrie cried, his jaw dropping. He almost wanted to hit himself when he heard the threat… he should have known that there was a reason Vekal had instigated him from the start of their conversation. "Yo-you no can do this to Petrie! Turn me back to flyer! Me supposed to be flyer, not swimmer!" he pleaded in desperation, only to see Vekal pointedly ignoring him.

"Quit your whining, Petrie," Vekal muttered, annoyed by his antics. "You asked for this."

"Me _never_ asked for this!" Petrie fired up a storm, flailing his now wingless arms about. "You lie to Petrie!"

"Hmph!" Vekal snorted at his accusation. "Careful with your words there… I never _actually_ lied to you," he said with a smirk, chuckling at the melancholy of the entire situation. "I simply chose not to mention what the stone would end up doing to you," he pointed out to a fuming Petrie. If one wanted to be exact, it technically was a lie by omission, but Vekal was smart enough to keep that tidbit to himself.

"Well, me no like what shiny stone do to me! Turn Petrie back to flyer now!"

There was a pause as the swimmer stared down the flyer. Finally, Vekal spoke. "Surely you've noticed by now that the shiny stone is missing from your body?" he asked, smirking when he saw Petrie's face scrunching up.

"Yes. Me notice that." Petrie said those words carefully, not liking the direction that the conversation was heading in.

"So if it's gone—" a shrewd look crossed Vekal's face, "—it follows that you're stuck this way."

Petrie furrowed his brow as he took in Vekal's words. The condescending tone in the flyer's voice made it quite clear that he knew more than he let on. "You have it with you… the shiny stone," Petrie accused with a cross expression. That would explain a lot about Vekal's behavior, actually.

"I won't confirm or deny anything. Make of that what you will, Petrie."

Petrie balled up his hands into fists, storming up to Vekal and shaking him by the shoulders. "This no game!" he yelled, furious that he still seemed to be treating the situation like a joke. "Me life will be ruined if Petrie no return to normal!" He had to force his worried mind to expel mortifying images of his stunned family and friends discovering his uncanny predicament. Petrie could almost hear the laughter that would ensue in his head.

What would they think? Would they accept him the way that he was now?

Or would his siblings be the jerks they always were, and—

Petrie shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut and cutting off his train of thought. As he froze up in worry, Vekal removed himself from his grip, stepping back. "Remember the deal, Petrie," he said, a hard edge to his tone. "I'll reverse the transformation for you if you fulfill your end of the bargain."

"What bargain?" Petrie treaded carefully with his question. He didn't like the sound of that, especially given that the last so-called "bargain" with Vekal was what had landed him in this predicament to begin with.

"I gave you the shiny stone to interfere with fate. Your friendship with your precious Ducky is on dire rocks now." Once again, a knowing smile was on Vekal's face. "Surely you wish to save it from that swimmer before he takes her away for good?"

"Of course me going save Ducky from Ferris!" Petrie countered, "What you think?"

There was silence for a moment. And then…

"…is that really what you think, you little whippersnapper?! Hah!"

Petrie performed a glorious double-take when he heard Vekal's voice go dark, the formal tone that he'd kept up for the entire conversation vanishing in an instant. Even the weather matched the sudden change of atmosphere — a sky puffy conveniently blotting out the radiant Bright Circle and leaving the entire vicinity filled with darkened gray shadows.

"Don't delude yourself with such grandiose dreams…" He waved a wing dismissively, walking up to the transformed Petrie as he flanked him from the side. "You actually think that you have a chance?" he asked with a malicious sneer, "With that foolhardy attitude of yours, I'll go ahead and wager the contrary." His eyes proceeded to gleam mischievously. "How about this… let's make a bet, shall we?" he offered, turning around to a stunned Petrie.

"What kind of bet?" Petrie asked, a cautious tone embedded in his voice. Evidently he'd learned his lesson after their previous conversation went awry.

Vekal smirked condescendingly at the flyer-turned-swimmer. "I bet that you won't even last through today as a swimmer." He continued to hold his head high even as Petrie gaped at him.

"W-What!? You think what?" Petrie spluttered, almost insulted.

"I'm not finished. There is one more thing I have to add. You have to do it…" Vekal's beak parted with a smirk as he added a final condition that made his challenge ten times harder. "…without letting anyone know your true identity."

He had to survive the day without letting anyone know that he was actually Petrie? Petrie's eyes bugged out as he contemplated the conundrum he was now in. Petrie stared at Vekal as though he was crazy, and by this point he almost wished he was. At least if the flyer was crazy, he would be predictable. Vekal was the opposite — he was very much in possession of his senses, but he was pulling strings and in control the entire time, not hesitating to let his adversary know that fact in as cruel a way as possible.

"I mean, I can't just have the entire Mysterious Beyond know that a shiny stone like this actually exists, can I?" Vekal justified, shrugging dismissively at Petrie. "Surely you understand why I intend to keep things hush-hush for now. I'm deliberately prowling low, scouting for the best opportunities."

"You acting like you still helping Petrie," Petrie scoffed. He didn't buy the act for a second. From what he'd garnered so far, Vekal was a bad flyer, through and through.

Vekal blinked in disbelief at Petrie's curt response. It was quite likely that he had not expected Petrie to fire back at him with gusto. "If you choose to believe that I'm against you and tricked you to take a stone like this just for fun, then so be it." A smile tugged on his beak. "Let's drop the pleasantries, Petrie."

Letting out a shaky breath, Vekal closed his eyes. When he reopened them, Petrie involuntarily shuddered — they were glinting dangerously, with a gaze that could stare down threehorns. "The terms of the deal are set, Petrie. Succeed and I'll change you back into a flyer," he said flippantly. "That said, I doubt that you'll succeed. And I'm afraid that your failure means that I'll have the last laugh," Vekal added, electing to state his honest thoughts on the matter. "So… want to take me up on this, Petrie?" he challenged, a wily glint in his eye.

At first, Petrie wanted to decline. He'd had more than enough of Vekal, after all.

But the way that the flyer had inflected the pronunciation of his question made it sound more like a statement than a query. Coupled with his condescending tone, it was clear as day that Vekal had already decided in his mind that Petrie would decline, scared away by the mere prospect of taking up another crazy deal with the kooky flyer.

It likely hadn't even occurred to Vekal that Petrie wouldn't take this lying down.

He wasn't backing down this time! He was no coward! "Me accept!" Petrie yelled out, hastily throwing down the gauntlet before his rational and apprehensive side could scream danger at him and backpedal out.

"What's this? You accept my challenge, eh? Very interesting indeed…" Vekal drawled, flashing Petrie a conceited grin as he took a step towards him.

Hearing his tone, Petrie held his hands by his sides, refusing to concede. "Yeah? What so wrong about that!?"

"You think you can actually win? Against _me_?" Vekal gnashed his teeth together, seemingly amused by the very idea. "Perish the thought, dear Petrie." He dismissively shook his head, laughing in a pompous manner. "I think it's only fair if I let you know one thing about me, Petrie. I _hate_ to lose." Vekal stated it matter-of-factly, a hardy expression on his face before it soured.

"And why do I hate losing? It's simple, really." He spoke with a dismissive tone, making it appear to Petrie as though he was answering a rhetorical question with an obvious answer. "The merciless _specter of death_ always claims the losers first…"

Petrie instinctively drew back. Up until this point, Vekal had appeared to be bored, seemingly toying with Petrie for kicks and giggles. But now, his voice was filled with venom, all traces of civility completely gone as the flyer's face turned black.

"Don't underestimate your own resolve. The ones who have nothing to lose… are the ones who no one is able to see coming. Heheheh…"

After Vekal's ominous warning, the malice in his voice vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. In the span of time it took for one to nibble on a treestar, the flyer had gone from looking like a vengeful threehorn… back to his usual weary expression, his mood swinging so quickly, abruptly and eerily that it was akin to that of a mask falling over him. Petrie had to double-take, gawking at the gargantuan change in Vekal's demeanor.

For his part however, Vekal acted like nothing was amiss, as though everything was completely normal despite it being far from the case. "I look forward to the night," he murmured with a zealous tone that most certainly did not match the words from his earlier speech, "whether or not you wind up succeeding in our little bet. Best of luck to you, Petrie."

"Wa-wait! Stop!"

Vekal, who had been preparing to fly off, aborted his takeoff upon hearing Petrie's sudden cry. "Yes?"

"You no can do this to me…" he whined, shamelessly pleading for Vekal to show mercy on him.

"Hmph. At the rate that you're going, I'm loath to admit that you are going to remain stuck as a swimmer forever…" Vekal admonished, a wry grin on his beak. "Do you remember what I told you yesterday? When I'm being serious, yours truly—Vekal the flyer—would never tell a lie. So keep this between us and I'll revert you back tonight. I give you my word."

Petrie let out a low growl. _He no tell Petrie lie? Me doubt that!_ But alas, it didn't matter whether or not he was being truthful — Vekal had him in a tenuous hold, and the both of them knew it. The transformed Petrie was all but forced to comply with the flyer's stupid, completely outrageous gamble.

"So I hope that on your part, you'll also keep to your end of the deal. Do not tell anyone that you are formerly Petrie, except you just so happened to be turned into a swimmer." Vekal deftly turned the situation around on a whim, testing Petrie's own integrity as though _he_ would be the one who would end up being unable to fulfill his end of the bargain. "I have my ways of knowing. Spill the sweet bubbles and I _will_ ensure that you stay this way forever…" he snarled, repeating the ominous threat again for emphasis just so that the severity of the consequences if Petrie tried going against him would sink in.

"You no dare…" Petrie mumbled, though the tone infused in his weary reply revealed that he knew Vekal would go through with it.

And on his end, Vekal saw through the tough act, knowing that Petrie was feigning his bravado. He smirked, confident that Petrie was well aware that he had no option besides acceding to his request to have a remote chance of becoming a flyer once again. "I know you see your new body as a curse, but do turn your mindset around." He prepped himself for flight, extending his wings outwards as he leaned towards Petrie.

"Attempt to see things from _my_ perspective. Do understand that the shiny stone and this transformation… is a _gift_. Use it wisely, my newborn swimmer," he chuckled, "There are many who would kill for this opportunity." With his final obtuse words of wisdom, he swiftly took to the skies above.

"Buh-bye, Petrie! Until we meet again!" he said, bidding his farewell. A few moments later, Vekal shot Petrie a passing glance, a smirk tugging on his beak as he observed the flyer-turned-swimmer swerving around to leave.

A visceral darkness seized ahold of Vekal's cold heart as he watched Petrie leave on foot due to the lack of wings in his new form. The emotion that he felt within him slowly managed to break through the calm façade that he desperately tried to maintain.

It might come as a surprise to those who did not know him well, but the feelings that swirled through him was that of… unsubdued glee. The burst of elation swelled throughout him, causing a vicious smile to encompass his face. For the briefest of moments, he allowed hatred and despair to consume him, enraptured by the feeling of darkness swelling in his heart.

It didn't last long before he let out a pained grimace, clicking his beak and forcing himself to restrain the wave of pleasure he felt. There was no need to blow his cover at this point by acting like a fool before all of his gambits were played.

 _Yes, everything is going according to plan. Just be good, Petrie… and show them all that I'm right!_ Vekal told himself as he raised one wing, rolling at an angle and gliding around the valley in a circular motion, taking solace in the wings that he had with him, the same appendages which Petrie had lost.

Ah, yes. Petrie, the former flyer. Now however, it was _swimmer_. Vekal had the Shiny Stone of Great Change to thank for that.

His protégé would soon learn the hard way on what this world was truly like. This was the perfect environment—the perfect scenario—for hatred and jealousy to thrive. He could almost smell the scent of sweet victory, and it smelt like the acrid scent of burning treestars to him.

Soon, he would finally have the proof he wanted — the evidence which he craved to prove beyond any debatable doubt that this world was truly beyond hope. Once he was confident of that conclusion, he could assure himself that only he would be able to salvage the remains from the ruined ashes, any last traces of conscience that might have been left in his hardened heart be damned.

Finally, he was close to reaching his ultimate goal. What he'd formerly surmised to be unattainable was now within the grasp of his talons! After many Cold Times of shrewd planning, _his_ world would soon be able to rise anew, supplanting the current worthless one that spanned under the Bright Circle.

It didn't matter who he had to manipulate and use to achieve what he wanted. Anyone who got in the way of his dream would be _crushed_.

 _I warned you, Pterano… no one crosses me and gets away with it. No one! I always get what I want, one way or another!_

It wasn't going to be long before the delicate equilibrium between the dinosaurs ended up being thrown out of balance, ruthlessly torn asunder by his own hand.

Vekal glanced down at the valley below him, letting his mind run wild as the flyer began to mentally overlay a picture of his ideal gray-tinted land in place of the Great Valley. A bleak, drab, and unforgiving world — admittedly a horrifying prospect to others, especially for the sheltered runts who inhabited the Great Valley…

…but in his eyes, it was _perfect_. In his eyes, he envisioned a world where everyone would be able to see each other for who they _truly_ were. Vekal laughed malevolently as he veered to his right. He couldn't wait to attain it and make the prospect his reality. As of this moment, his dream was still nothing more than a fantasy… but it was _so_ close.

So tantalizingly close, like a forbidden sweet bubble just slightly out of reach.

The pterosaur's golden eyes glimmered as he bristled mid-flight. He—or perhaps, if Vekal were to be more exact, those two ignorant dinosaurs, Ducky and Petrie—would be the catalyst for the ensuing cataclysm that would strike down the entire Mysterious Beyond… and bring that ideal world into fruition.

And when that moment arrived, it would be _glorious_.

* * *

How had he gotten himself into this mess?

Petrie trudged aimlessly, dragging his feet along the plains of the Great Valley, Vekal's challenge hot on his mind, the flyer's words reverberating through his head over and over again.

" _I bet that you won't even last through today as a swimmer."_

" _You have to do it… without letting anyone know your true identity."_

" _Spill the sweet bubbles and you'll stay this way forever…"_

He groaned, feeling a massive headache beginning to manifest itself. This was so not good. Before Petrie could begin to formulate a plan to tackle the problem on hand, a whine coming from his right caught his attention.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! What should I do? You gotta help me, please! I like her… I really do!"

Petrie's eyes widened at the voice, quickly hiding behind some shrubs when he caught sight of someone whom he would rather never see again — a pale green smarmy swimmer who had relentlessly harassed his good friend Ducky a mere day before.

Ferris.

Just what he needed. Petrie grimaced at the sight of the swimmer. He was already in a bad mood, and having to bear witness to the troublesome swimmer was definitely not a good continuation of his terrible day.

"Please stop your whining."

Petrie furrowed his brow when he heard a second voice—female—responding to Ferris' earlier queries. "The nonsense that escapes your beak makes me want to clamp it shut sometimes," the second voice continued.

"Don't be like that! This is a complete disaster! She just flat out rejected me… turned me down like a used treestar! Ohhhhh… how can I rectify this mess?"

Petrie peeped between a few treestars to observe the intriguing conversation between Ferris and the other dinosaur, who he could now see was a light green female swimmer. It didn't escape Petrie's notice that Ferris himself was acting in a completely different manner compared to his last appearance. Where he had previously been calm and collected even when he was talking to Cera, the same Ferris was now whining pitifully while trudging along with the swimmer by his side, a complete one-eighty to the flirtatious behavior that he'd exhibited yesterday.

"Hmph! At least that girl has a brain if she's rejecting you on a whim," she commented to Ferris savagely, making the remark with no mercy whatsoever. She rolled her eyes as Ferris—and a hidden Petrie—gaped at her. "Man, you are _pathetic_ ," she whined, "Will you quit it with your senseless pouting already?"

Petrie had to admit that he stifled a laugh upon bearing witness to the cathartic display, relishing every last moment of it. Man, seeing Ferris get his just desserts felt so good.

"H-hey!" Ferris crossed his arms, taking offense from the other swimmer's words. "Yo-you didn't have to put it so bluntly…"

The female swimmer didn't even bat an eyelid at his complaint, turning her back to Petrie and Ferris as she blithely kept strolling on without a care in the world. "I don't understand you sometimes. Our ancestors are probably rolling in their graves knowing that you, _and not me_ , are the one who is taking over this herd. So hear it straight from my mouth, Ferris…" She paused for effect, before concluding with a vicious smirk. "You're a hopeless mess," she murmured as she continued to walk, leaving a stunned Ferris frozen behind her.

"Hey!" Ferris yelped, chasing after her retreating form when he finally recovered from his stupor. "Wait up!"

"Don't make me hit you," she replied curtly to Ferris, without giving him even a shred of dignity by turning back to look at his face. "The possibility is looking awfully tempting right about now…"

Petrie laughed, rolling on the ground as his mind imagined the hypothetical scenario that the female swimmer had just mentioned.

If only he could be as hardy and daring as that swimmer and stand up to Ferris without losing his nerve…

"Why, hello! What are you doing, hiding over there in those bushes?"

Petrie felt his heart stop at that very moment. His breath hitched as he stiffened up, unwilling to acknowledge the voice as his mind tried to pass it off as a figment of his overexcited imagination.

It was just his imaginary friend playing a prank on him, and most definitely not his good friend Ducky who had called out to him.

But Petrie could not lie to himself for long. Against his better judgement, he chanced a glance back and immediately wished he hadn't when he saw that Ducky was indeed in the vicinity. Worse still, she was sauntering over to him with a merry grin, with Spike hovering behind in the distance as well.

Petrie panicked, tensing up when he realized that she was heading in his direction. He had to physically fight back a gulp of fear. He was so not ready for Ducky or any of the others to see him like this. Managing to regain his composure, he poised himself to take flight…

…before landing ungracefully in a prone position on the ground when he jumped up into the air, flapping his arms in the way he would normally have used to soar up, before realizing too late that his wings were gone. _You no wings now, remember?_

"Oh no!" she cried, running to the fallen swimmer with concern in her voice and posture. "You fall-ed down! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you get back up? Huh? Huh?"

Petrie let out a terrified squeak, a strangled gasp catching in his throat when the peppy swimmer he had known for years curiously quirked her head at him as she launched into a barrage of questions.

When he didn't answer her, Ducky sheepishly smiled—remembering that he was currently sprawled on the ground and thus not in the right frame of mind to answer her queries—and reached her hand out towards him to render assistance. Petrie gripped onto it and allowed her to pull him to his feet, the flyer-turned-swimmer shakily managing to stand on his two feet even though his legs were as wobbly as a stack of treestars piled on top of one another.

Once Ducky ascertained that he was okay, she continued with her tirade. "Why, hello! I have never seen you in the Great Valley before! Nope, nope, nope!" she exclaimed in a cheerful manner which was very Ducky-like, made explicitly more blatant by her trademark triple affirmation at the end.

His face paled as he made eye contact with one of his best friends. Petrie tried to squeak a response to her, but found that no decipherable words was able to leave his beak. Seeing the shivering black-colored swimmer to her front, Ducky tilted her head to her right, a burning question on the forefront of her mind.

"Who are you?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Apologies for the delay, but I'm back with this story! To celebrate, we're starting this chapter with the moment that everyone has been waiting for… the non-shippers, that is. Sorry, the shippers will have to wait one or two more chapters.

To everyone who suspected that Petrie was turned into a swimmer by the shiny stone, congrats! Here's your lucky star… and yes, it _was_ obvious. Very blatantly obvious.

The main gist of this chapter is once again, Petrie and Vekal. I'll let the conversation speak for itself, but you might be able to tell that the flyer has dropped much of his pleasant façade from the previous chapter as he proceeds to gives Petrie a challenge that he cannot refuse…

…

 **DiddyKF1:** Yeah, the fake-out with Petrie running away — I admit, many would believe that he'd leave at that point. That said, though what Vekal did is a very underhanded tactic, some real-life salesmen do use limited-edition deals to entice customers into committing… so yeah. Also, I wouldn't say that suspense is my forte, but I think I managed to achieve an unsettling effect with Vekal, heh.

 **Guest:** Psst… sent this to the wrong individual! How is he expected to see your question on a different author's story? :p Regardless, I would advise for you to simply PM Diddy and ask it to him directly, although since he's re-writing _Secret Love_ now when this chapter goes up you're probably good on this.

 **TimeLordMaster108:** Hm, whatever gave you that idea? Was it the story summary, perchance? Yeah, thought so. I'm also rather surprised that you happen to like Vekal and Ferris as antagonists this much, given that I haven't really fleshed them out in the intro arc yet. But we'll see as this goes on.

 **Keijo6:** Yeah, I'd vetted through Vekal's conversation with Petrie multiple times because I wanted the inciting incident to really leave an impact on readers. Given that Petrie is one who tends to err on the side of caution given his nature, I hoped that the way he chose to take the plunge for Ducky's sake despite his inner concerns, as well as being coerced to do so due to the threat of losing the opportunity was something that was conveyed believably.

 **Rhombus:** Thanks so much for the catch (I went back and fixed it), I genuinely did not notice that in proofreading! You cannot believe (but chances are that as a fellow author, you might) the sheer number of spelling, grammatical, structural, and other errors like homophones that an individual has to catch and fix from the initial draft to the final document. So, so many! :)

…

And so Ducky comes face-to-face with a very different Petrie. With the threat of Ferris being up to some antics, as well as Vekal's unusual deal also looming on the horizon, how will our favorite flyer—sorry, _swimmer_ —make it through the day unscathed?


	6. Herd Mentality

**Chapter 6: Herd Mentality**

It was a good day. It was, it was. Yep, yep, yep!

Though there was no concrete evidence to back her gut feeling up, Ducky just had a hunch about it. Her heart soon swelled as the vibrant skies above proved her right, being as blue as the tranquil body of water to her front. The young swimmer slowly reached her hand out and gently tapped a finger against the calm surface of the water, gazing at it as the body of liquid became wavy and uneasy from the touch, rippling in a manner that was similar to Spike's grumbling belly.

Almost as if the spiketail was able to see deep into the recesses of his sister's mind, Spike let out a gentle grunt from Ducky's side.

"Oh, Spike!" Ducky chided, shaking her head in mild disapproval. "Mama will be giving us both breakfast very soon. There is no need to be hungry, for you will soon get all the treestars that you want! You will, you will!"

Although the swimmer had suffered from a most horrid sleep and barely slept a wink—no thanks to the multitude of sleep stories that plagued her throughout the night—Ducky resolved not to let that ruin her day and to start the morning afresh with no worries.

"How have you been, Ducky?" Her mother, Shoal, quirked her head at her inquisitive daughter. "Your eyes are red, dear," she quickly noted, frowning. The swimmer was studiously observant when it came to Ducky and Spike, without a doubt the single two biggest troublemakers in her nest. "Bad night?" she prodded.

Ducky glumly looked down at her toes. "Yep, yep, yep…" she moaned dejectedly, before sealing her lips and refusing to elaborate any further. She still wanted to keep her concerns to herself for now, even though the fact that she had used her cheery catchphrase in a despondent way was already a huge red flag to anyone paying attention.

Thanks to a sharp ear which was able to catch her daughter's disconcerted mood, Shoal leaned down to hug her daughter. "There, there," she consoled, already guessing on what the fuss was all about from just a quick glance. As a doting mother, there was naught which her children could hide from her. "It's just a bad sleep story, Ducky. There's no need to fret…"

Ducky giggled, her beak nuzzling against her mother's belly. "I know, mama!" she reassured while embracing her mother using her arms, with Spike hobbling forward and joining into the group hug before long.

The large swimmer eventually broke away from Ducky and Spike, straightening her body and tapping a digit against her beak in contemplation. "I don't have anything to task you children today, so maybe you should run along and play with your friends, Ducky. That always seems to cheer you up whenever you're feeling down."

"Oh, you are right!" Ducky cheered, ecstatically hopping up and down. "Spike and I do want to play with our friends. We do, we do!"

After a short pause where Spike processed his sister's words, he concurred in agreement, passively nodding his head as his half-dopey, half-excited expression complimented Ducky's ardor.

Shoal flashed a coy smile at the sight. "Oh… just run along, you two," she gently shooed her daughter. "I'll see you both later. Be back here before the Bright Circle sets, okay?"

"Thank you, mama!" Ducky waved as she skipped away, preparing to make a frenzied dash towards the gang's usual rendezvous point. "There is no need to worry, Spike and I will take care of ourselves. We will, we will!"

Shoal waved them goodbye as swimmer and spiketail left the combined sleeping area, with Ducky brimming with energy and Spike lumbering behind her. "Take care, children," she whispered, "Don't you get into trouble, now…"

Despite her daughter's reassurance, the large swimmer felt a pang of worry deep in her belly nevertheless as she witnessed her two most rambunctious children scooting off into the distance. It was like this every single time — no matter how merry and nonchalant Ducky and Spike both were respectively, the two of them were still her precious little children and she would always fret for them.

Plus, considering just how often they got into trouble alongside their cheeky little friends, Shoal reckoned that her heightened paranoia was well within the realms of justification. One could never be too careful when not just one, but _two_ of your children were well-known around the valley, the companions who they regularly hung out with pretty much immortalized in infamy as the eponymous _Gang of Seven_.

The swimmer receiving a harshly-worded recommendation from some of the other parents in a previous valley meeting to control her children better all because they didn't want the group of young dinosaurs to be a bad influence to their very own kids was pretty much testament to that…

Although Shoal had been tempted at times, she knew that she could never follow through with imposing such a drastic change. She was definitely no Mr. Threehorn with her parenting style, that much was for sure. While she could be harsh at times, she had a relatively hands-off approach to her own clutch of children, especially when it came to Ducky and Spike. There was no stopping that rambunctious duo when they set their minds to something… the dynamic that Ducky and Spike shared together with their friends was truly astounding.

Needless to say, there were certainly times where Shoal felt as though she'd aged ten Cold Times solely from the numerous scares that she received from having to deal with her children's reckless endeavors. It was during those despairing moments where Shoal would find herself contemplating as to why Ducky was so hard to control.

She had first received an inkling of her daughter's troublemaking self almost at the very beginning. Perhaps it was what one would call an ominous prediction of things to come, but when she and her mate watched in horror as the infant Ducky sauntered away from the nest and nearly got herself snapped up by a bellydragger right after she'd hatched from her egg, Shoal immediately made a vow to herself to keep a very close eye on her rambunctious daughter.

Ducky was undoubtedly going to be quite the handful.

Ever since then, there were times where she'd wondered as to why Ducky in particular was so prone to trouble when compared to the remainder of her first clutch. The second of her children to hatch, a swimmer who she had named Spring, was so much more subdued and demure in personality when compared to her older sister that the contrast was that much more jarring.

All that being said, she wouldn't have Ducky or Spike any other way. Despite all the grief that Ducky had inflicted on her whenever it came to her free-spirited daughter's unrestrained antics, the swimmer still loved her boisterous firstborn child with all her heart nonetheless, viewing Ducky and her precious, plucky personality as a true gift from her ancestors in the stars above.

Her two children were much more relaxed and unperturbed by worry, though. Ducky ran along the field with Spike in tow, only to screech in her tracks when she saw a shadow looming across the ground. Looking up to see what was blocking out the Bright Circle, her eyes soon came across a cobalt-blue flyer circling the air above her.

"What perfect timing! If it isn't Ducky and Spike! I was just looking for the two of you!"

"Oh!" Ducky waved at the slowly descending flyer. "It is Petrie mama! It is nice to see you again! It is, it is!"

Petrie's mother nodded her head in acknowledgement at the swimmer as she landed right next to her. "Hello there, Ducky. Nice to see that you are both well," Skylar greeted, stretching her wings after touchdown before retracting them back and wrapping the wing membrane around her body.

"It is nice to see you as well!" Ducky returned, before quirking her head at Skylar curiously. "But what are you doing over here?"

The flyer tentatively looked around the area before crouching down and leaning towards Ducky. "Did you or Spike happen to see my son Petrie, by any chance?"

"Petrie…?" Ducky pursed her lips, her eyes deep in thought. "We have not seen him yet! Nope, nope, nope!"

Skylar appeared momentarily dejected by Ducky's negatory response. "Hm… I had assumed that Petrie would have crashed over at your place when he didn't return back to the nest yesterday…" she mumbled in a soft voice.

Ducky gaped in shock at the news. "You mean that Petrie never come-ed back home yesterday?" she repeated, trying to get a confirmation from the flyer.

"Wh-what?" Skylar stumbled, her eyes widening when she realized that she had unintentionally articulated her thoughts aloud. "I mean, no I didn't say… ah, I'm afraid that's right." She let out a disheartened sigh, her head dipping as she gave up on trying to hide it from the two children. "Please keep this between yourselves as much as possible, but Petrie hasn't returned home since last night, and I haven't the slightest clue as to where he is. I worry for him…" the flyer admitted with a worried expression, a brief flash of paranoia showing in her gentle eyes.

Taking in a deep breath, Skylar quickly composed herself and held her head high. "Do you think that Petrie could already be with Littlefoot and your other friends?" she tried, rationalizing another plausible solution on the spot.

"Well, Petrie usually flies over my sleeping area before meeting Littlefoot and the others, and I did not see him today, so I do not think that Petrie is with them right now. Oh, no, no, no…" Ducky was forced to bring Skylar's hopes down, but quickly followed it up with a positive note. "But I will still help to pass the message along. I will, I will!"

"Thank you for your help! It is very much appreciated, Ducky!" Skylar sincerely thanked the swimmer, bowing her head down at the youngling. "Petrie's really fortunate to have a friend like you."

Ducky giggled, beaming at the compliment. "Thank you so much!" she replied in a modest manner. "I am glad to be friends with Petrie too! Yep, yep, yep!"

As the flyer spread her wings and readied herself for takeoff, she made one final request to Ducky and Spike. "If you or any of your friends manage to locate Petrie, please be sure to tell me as soon as you can!" she implored the two, before springing up into the air with one swift movement of her wings.

Ducky raised her voice to respond to the retreating flyer, now airborne and soaring high in the azure skies. "There is no need to worry! Spike and I promise that we will do all we can to find Petrie! We will, we will!" the swimmer reassured to let Skylar know that she did not mind carrying out a favor for the parent of her close friend and that the flyer wasn't imposing on them in the slightest.

When Petrie's mother was nothing more than a tiny speck in the sky, Ducky started rapidly jumped up and down, looking up at her brother with fervent concern visible on her face. "This is not good, Spike! Petrie is now missing! He is, he is!"

"Nnngghhhh…" Spike grunted in response as Ducky proceeded to quicken her pace.

"Hurry up, Spike! We need to tell everyone about this!" Ducky pestered, before giving up and making a U-turn when she saw that Spike was not using any of his reserve energy to quicken his pace. Grabbing onto Spike's thigh and hurling herself up to mount the spiketail, Ducky proceeded to helm her brother, taking the position that she normally found herself in when she was on Spike's back.

"Let us tell Littlefoot and the others, Spike! Maybe they will know where Petrie is! Yep, yep, yep!"

* * *

"So, let me get this straight. Not a single one of us has the slightest clue as to where Petrie is?"

Cera's summary of the situation was apt and directly to the point. After a quick roll call had turned up with a strength of six instead of seven, it became adamantly clear that not one of them knew about the current whereabouts of their flyer friend, much to Ducky's great disappointment.

"Yeah, I think that's the gist of it," Littlefoot answered, peering around the many trees surrounding the area. "Petrie's not with us either…"

"Great. Just greattttt…" Cera drawled the word, enunciating her annoyance as the irritated threehorn let out an exhausted sigh. "Has anyone actually _seen_ Petrie since we split yesterday?"

The sheepish expressions that she got from the others as non-verbal responses was more than enough of an answer to her query.

"Actually…" The purple sharptooth huddling off to the side hesitantly began to talk, causing Cera to raise a brow as the fragile silence around the area was broken. "Ruby and I both didn't even manage to catch a glimpse of Petrie yesterday! I mean, we weren't together with you guys."

"That is very true!" Ruby walked over to the sharptooth's side, the fast runner backing him up, both figuratively and literally, "I was with Chomper for all of yesterday, as Chomper was with me during the whole of the previous day."

Chomper shifted his jaw slightly, his expression faltering briefly as his eyes glazed over to the sides. "Ruby's right! I mean, I was with her the entire time!"

"Hmph!" Cera held her head high, unable to suppress the widening smile on her face. "Well, since you two didn't know, _I_ challenged Petrie yesterday."

Chomper and Ruby quickly realized the direction that Cera was about to take the conversation in when Littlefoot flashed them a deadpan _you-know-what-is-coming_ look. Yep, it was going to be a classic pride-orientated threehorn speech. "So you know, there is a chance that maybe Petrie decided not to show up because he was scared that I would kick his butt at hide-and-seek today!" Cera brazenly continued. "I mean, I did tell him that I was gonna kick his sorry tail after what he did to us all yesterday! He's probably off hiding again, that scaredy egg!"

Littlefoot could only shake his head. He subtly turned around, not wanting Cera to see the amused smile that was clearly visible on his face.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Ducky shook her head. "Petrie mama told-ed me that Petrie had disappeared from his home since last night. He did, he did!"

Littlefoot took on a contemplative expression. "Since last night? That's weird! First of all, why would just Petrie disappear in the middle of the night? Moreover, if Petrie's mother knew about this, why didn't she stop him in the first place? I mean, come on… you know our parents would stop something like this at the first sign of trouble!"

Cera snorted. "And whose fault might that be, I wonder?" she snarked.

Ignoring Cera's attempt to bait Littlefoot into a retort, Ruby nodded in concurrence to both agree with her longneck friend and quell the rising argument. "Something is definitely suspicious about this, because this definitely sounds suspicious to me!" she sang in her typical speech pattern.

"I'll say," Chomper agreed. "It sure sounds to me like Petrie's vanishing act might be more sinister than it first seems. You know what? I think Petrie's mom might not be telling us the full story here."

"Uh, hello?" Cera said in a tone which often preceded one of her sassy retorts. "Since when have our parents, or any of the grownups for that matter, ever told us about what was really going on whenever things in the valley are going badly, huh?" she stated matter-of-factly, sticking her tongue out at the end for good measure.

Littlefoot took in a sharp breath. "Well—"

"… _except_ when your grandparents make an announcement to the entire Great Valley," Cera hastily interjected when she saw Littlefoot about to respond to her rhetorical question. "That doesn't count, Littlefoot! We know about their decisions at the same time as the rest of the valley."

Spike grunted and nodded his head, causing Ducky to laugh. "You are right there, Cera. Our mommys and daddys do keep things from us, so we learn about them at the same time as everyone else. We do, we do!"

The group remained silent, remembering quite a few of those impactful announcements. After all, the announcement about the farwalker swimmer herd the previous day had also come out of the blue as well.

Ruby held her hand by her hips. "I can certainly see that, see that I certainly can! Didn't you make it sound as though you only found out about Petrie because his mother unintentionally let it slip?"

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky confirmed Ruby's suspicion, looking to the ground from her vantage point atop of Spike's back as she recalled the anguish that she saw on Skylar's face when the flyer realized her folly. "She accidentally told-ed me. She did, she did!"

Although it had been implied, Ducky's affirmation caused Cera to groan. "The grownups with their secrets again…" she lamented while tilting her head up to the sky. "Why can't they just tell us when something is wrong instead of settling it by themselves? You and I know that they're usually hopeless when facing such scenarios!"

Taking the opportunity to speak up, Chomper stepped forward before Cera could mope any further. "Maybe Petrie's mom might have wanted to keep it secret, but now that we know that something's up with Petrie, we can try to do something about it!" The sharptooth placed one of his claws to his jaw in thought, lighting up as a brainwave hit him. "Hey, I have an idea! Maybe I can use my sniffer to sniff out Petrie's whereabouts! I just need to get his scent, and then we'll be able to track him down!" he offered, tilting his snout up to the sky.

Littlefoot smiled at his friend's suggestion. "Thanks, Chomper. That sounds like it could actually work. Still, I hope that it's nothing serious and we manage to find Petrie quickly. I'm… worried about him." The longneck frowned, extending his neck skyward. "It's not like Petrie to up and disappear on his own."

Cera grunted. "Yeah, that scaredy egg is the last dinosaur who I'd peg to venture out on an adventure by himself."

"Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky agreed. "If we disappear from the valley, we always do it together. We do, we do."

In spite of the fact that the pink fast runner had made a personal vow to always be a good role model towards the others ever since she had first arrived at the valley with Chomper and met with the remainder of the gang, Ruby couldn't help but to let out a chuckle at the swimmer's foolhardy remark. "You must still be fond of those days of adventuring, Ducky," she concurred, rustling her feathers while remembering some of the old stories that her friends used to tell her regarding their past adventures. "But our first priority as of now should be to find Petrie, find Petrie our first priority should be!"

"You don't say?" Cera snapped. "Come on, isn't it pretty obvious? I mean, with Petrie gone, who actually thinks our first priority now should be starting up a game of hide-and-seek?"

Chomper opened his jaw to speak, before gently easing it shut and wisely letting his words die in his mouth when he saw the threehorn glaring at him dangerously. "Uh, never mind. I just had a funny thought," he laughed it off. "Please continue, Cera."

"I know _exactly_ what you were going to say." Cera didn't take her eyes off of Chomper, causing the placate sharptooth to back away ruefully. "You wanted to call me a hypocrite, didn't you?"

"To be honest…"

"Don't you _dare_ answer that, Chomper! Not unless you want me to get really angry!"

A bout of laughter rattled the nearby trees as the others proceeded to laugh at Chomper and Cera's expense.

"Alright… that's enough joking about, guys. Time to get serious!" Littlefoot lowered the tone of his voice when the laughter had died down so that he could get the others to focus once more. It had the intended effect, with all eyes from the other five falling onto him as they fell into attention and perked up, intently listening to what he had to say.

"While I think that Chomper's plan is great," he said, giving a nod in Chomper's direction, "I also think that the rest of us should also split up into pairs so that we can cover more ground. Petrie's a flyer, so he can be virtually anywhere in the Great Valley!"

Though Littlefoot didn't say it, the unspoken addendum to his remark was in all of their heads.

… _or outside of it…_

"I will be with Spike!" Ducky broke the somber silence as she called dibs on her brother, who gave an affirmative grunt from under her feet to show his concurrence with his sister's decision. "Yep, yep, yep!"

Snapping out of his own trance, Chomper immediately followed up by jumping to Ruby's side. "Then I suppose that means I'm with Ruby! Oh boy!" he cheered as the fast runner lightly slapped his arm teasingly.

Chortling as the other four proceeded to trudge off in separate directions, Littlefoot was about to make a comment to himself on Chomper's feistiness in pairing up with his caretaker when he suddenly realized why Chomper had been so quick on his feet.

"Guess I'm stuck with you once more, Littlefoot?"

He whirled his neck around to see an irate Cera, the only one of the six left unpaired.

…oops.

"Yeah." Littlefoot grinned. "Looks like it's me and you again, Cera."

Cera proceeded to flank Littlefoot from the side, exhaling an apathetic murmur, "Let's just hurry up and find Petrie. I want to beat that sorry flyer in a game of hide-and-seek before the Bright Circle goes down. I told myself that I would win against Petrie today, and he's not going to back out on me!"

As Littlefoot resigned himself to hearing Cera's complaints for the remainder of the search, a nascent thought wafted to the top of the longneck's head.

 _I hope the others are having a better time and luck finding Petrie…_

* * *

Thankfully for Littlefoot, they were. Ducky whistled as she directed Spike along their quest to find the mysteriously missing Petrie.

Her destination — the Great Wall that surrounded the Great Valley. After all, her innate hunch was that as a flyer, Petrie would likely be somewhere high up. And even if he wasn't, one of the tall mountains like Threehorn Peak would suffice in giving her a flyer's eye view of the entire valley, hopefully allowing her to spy a speck of light brown that she could distinctively recognize as Petrie.

At least, that was her original plan. Her attention, however, was piqued when she saw an unusual sight.

"Say… do you see that, Spike?" she pointed at a rustling bush, the boost in height thanks to her being on Spike's back allowing her line of sight to clear a large cluster of treestars that were bunched together. "Who's that in the bush over there?"

A swimmer who had skin as black as the night sky was sprawled on the grass, rolling around in rambunctious laughter. Though she had gone through many adventures with her friends, Ducky couldn't say that this was something she saw every day.

She prompted dismounted Spike and jumped back down onto the ground. Silently striding over to the swimmer, Ducky then proceeded to announce her presence.

"Why, hello! What are you doing, hiding over there in those bushes?"

The swimmer immediately froze when he heard her, jolting up sharply before disorientedly slamming back down to the ground. Ducky winced as she saw him land in an excruciating manner, feeling extremely bad when she heard him moan in pain. She didn't mean to scare him that badly!

Taking large strides to end up next to the swimmer, she proceeded to launch a flurry of questions at him to see if he was alright. "Oh no! You fall-ed down! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you get back up? Huh? Huh?"

It took her awhile to realize that he was staring at her accusingly, his black eyes meek and fearful. At this, Ducky decided to lay off on the questions and instead extended her arm out for him to latch onto so that he could get back on his two feet.

When he appeared stable enough and didn't look like he was going to faint again, the swimmer promptly unleashed her unbounded curiosity onto her hapless prey.

"Why, hello! I have never seen you in the Great Valley before! Nope, nope, nope!" she quipped, before letting loose the million-treestar question on the unfamiliar newcomer. "Who are you?"

* * *

 _A-ack! M-Me no like what happening now… me no like this at all!_

Call it serendipitous, call it a coincidence… Petrie simply opted to call it 'bad luck'. Was the Bright Circle actively messing with him right now? Just what were the chances?

"Um, sorry, but who are you?" Ducky repeated after a while. "I have not seen you before. Are you new?"

"Oh, uh, you just no see me before because me with new swimmer herd…" Petrie chuckled nervously, playing off his earlier panic by using an excuse that he came up with on the spot.

"What is wrong?" Ducky asked, looking at him intently when she detected the unease radiating from him. Concern slowly spread across her face before her beak eventually fell with a gasp. "Oh, no! I do not mean to make you scared! Is your name a secret? If it is, then I will not pry! Nope, nope, nope!"

Petrie immediately found himself being able to relax, his friend's calming words as contagious as her sincere expression. Almost unconsciously, his beak began to formulate the answer to her question.

"Ah, it no secret. Me P-Pe…"

He froze mid-sentence, the swimmer seizing up when he realized that he was about to introduce himself as _Petrie_.

That certainly would not do.

Not only would he be unable to explain as to why he had Petrie's name, if push came to shove, Petrie had no idea how he could possibly give a believable answer as to why he was stuck in the body of a swimmer that looked nothing like his previous appearance.

 _Wellllll… Petrie get shiny stone from bad flyer that turn me into swimmer like Ducky! You believe me, right? Wa-wait… me being honest, me swear!_

If he were to admit the truth and try to convince someone by telling them that, he'd probably be laughed out of the valley. What had happened to him sounded completely ludicrous to someone out of the loop. Even Petrie had to see and experience the transformation with his own two eyes before he could believe that such a thing was within the realms of possibility and not just a mere sleep story.

Not to mention, Vekal had explicitly warned him not to reveal his identity to anyone. And despite everything that had transpired thus far, Petrie didn't want to cross the crazed flyer. Vekal might be unpredictable and was quite possibly insane, but the depraved flyer had already more than proven that he wasn't to be taken lightly.

" _I have my ways of knowing. Spill the sweet bubbles and I will ensure that you stay this way forever…"_

Honestly, the threat seemed like one of Vekal's feints at first, a lie solely meant to keep him on the edge of his talons. Logically speaking, Petrie hadn't even caught a glimpse of Vekal after he'd stormed away from the flyer earlier, so how would he ever know if he were to blurt the truth out to someone?

…and yet, a minuscule part of Petrie's panicked mind didn't think that Vekal was kidding about following suit with his brutal words. From his confident and callous demeanor, Vekal gave the impression that he was someone who was not to be trifled with. Adding to that, the flyer had rattled off Ducky's name during their conversation as though it was no big deal even though Petrie had never seen him before they met yesterday.

Looking back, Vekal name-dropping Ducky had definitely been on purpose, a subtle-yet-significant move purely meant to freak him out and catch him while he was off guard. Well, the tactic had definitely succeeded there.

It was the same thing here. Petrie knew that Vekal had a lot of information about Ducky and his other friends. The crafty flyer had bragged as much, and the condescending attitude that he had throughout their second meeting—which could actually rival Cera's mood on one of her bad days—was simply further proof of his uncanny knowledge. As a result, it wasn't that far off of an assumption for Petrie to let his paranoia run wild and conclude that perhaps, Vekal did have some way to garner if he had indeed told anyone about his very unusual predicament.

He could not put into coherent words as to just how badly he wanted to grab onto Ducky's shoulders and scream the truth about his situation to his close friend. But alas, Vekal's cautionary words were an effective deterrent, stopping Petrie from revealing all to Ducky in a frantic voice. No matter how panicked he was about his current form, he did not wish to remain a swimmer for the rest of his life.

So close, and yet so far. It was pure psychological warfare. His inner conflict was tearing him apart.

Yeah, Petrie quickly surmised that wasn't worth it to spill the beans. He wasn't a risk-taker. _That_ was Cera's forte.

Now that he had all of his options closed off except for one, there was nothing Petrie could do but follow Vekal's original terms. Basically, he just had to make it till the end of the day. And judging by the way things were playing out, it was going to be a long day for him, indeed.

"Um…"

Petrie was jolted back to reality when he heard and then saw Ducky waving at him to get his attention. Once she saw him react, she quickly followed up with a request.

"I am sorry, but you were speaking so softly that I was not able to hear your name." Ducky apologized, leaning towards Petrie and indirectly causing him to shudder as he found himself put on the spot. "It is okay, there is no need to be shy. Nope, nope, nope! I promise that we can be friends! We can, we can!" she encouraged, nodding her head with a perky smile.

 _Me already friends with you, Ducky!_ That was what his mind was screaming, but there was no possible way he could tell Ducky that without going in too deep.

"P…addy! Me mean Paddy! Yeah, that me name!" the transformed Petrie managed to stumble out a false identity under duress, picking the most convenient syllable that came to mind which could follow up the P from his original name that he had almost blurted out earlier. Alas, the pressure of a curious Ducky was too great — she'd always had that effect on others.

Petrie swore that there was no one—baring sharpteeth, of course—in the whole Mysterious Beyond who could possibly muster up the mental strength to resist Ducky when his swimmer friend wished to get a response from them. Her constant obstinance, her quivering beak, and her soft sky-blue eyes all combined together to form a devastating combination which sucked the resolve out of anyone who wanted to defy the wishes of this sweet, inquisitive swimmer.

"You are named Pad-dy?" Ducky struggled with the pronunciation at first, pausing between the two syllables and rolling the name around her tongue to get comfortable with it. "Hee hee hee!" she giggled, beaming widely at the new swimmer. "You talk funny, you do, you do!" Abruptly stopping her laughing fit, Ducky quirked her head and peered closely at him, her dazzling aqua-blue eyes piercing into his very soul. "Tee hee! It is probably a coincidence, but the way you speak reminds me of my good friend. Yep, yep, yep!"

Petrie felt a chill running down his body at her words. There was no doubt in his mind that Ducky was referring to him. Right off the bat, that was a surprisingly astute observation from Ducky. For crying out loud, he'd literally just met her with this new form and she'd already noted similarities with his former self!

"Yeah! Me…" Petrie slapped his beak, forcing himself to switch his speech pattern to avoid any further suspicion. It was immensely hard for him to break habit, forcing the swimmer to stop between every word as he struggled to speak like Littlefoot. "I… am… Paddy! That me… _my_ name!" he declared, heaving a sigh of relief as he finally succeeded in getting out the sentence using proper grammatical format.

"Well, it is really nice to meet you too!" Ducky concurred, turning back around. "Spike, come over here! Say hello to our new friend!"

There was a long pause and no response following Ducky's call for her brother. She soon pouted, puffing her cheeks up when she saw no sign of the spiketail who she'd left behind earlier. "Oh, do not tell me that Spike wandered off again!" Ducky grumbled.

Though Ducky was somewhat irate by Spike's absence, Petrie was conversely glad for this turn of events. Spike might not be able to talk, but he didn't want to leave anything to chance.

"Where are you, Spike?" Ducky raised her voice, darting her eyes around the area. "I cannot also be looking for you when I am searching for Petrie!"

Petrie turned to Ducky in surprise. She was looking for _him_? Oh, this was very bad.

Just as he was about to try and sneak away while Ducky was busy hunting down Spike, a new voice made him stop in his tracks.

"Why, if it isn't the mademoiselle with the lovely voice."

Both Ducky and Petrie jolted at the familiar voice coming from behind them. Rather distressingly, it appeared that her shouts had attracted an entirely different dinosaur to the vicinity altogether.

"Hello again, Ducky!" Ferris greeted with a jubilant expression as Ducky's own face quickly turned crestfallen. Ignoring her sudden mood swing at his wayward appearance, the swimmer swung his arms wide open and went right on. "I was in the area and happened to see you, so I have returned once more. Pleasure to make your acquaintance… once more…"

Ferris let his beak drop as he trailed off, his expression quickly falling to that of a perturbed scowl. "Well, m'lady…" he grumbled, making no effort to hide his annoyance, "…who's this swimmer hanging by your side over there?"

Though Petrie obstinately kept his beak shut and refused to answer Ferris, he had unfortunately forgotten about one key factor with regards to secrets.

"He is named Paddy! Yep, yep, yep!"

…Ducky herself.

"So… your name is Paddy, hm?" Ferris mused, placing a finger to his beak as Petrie whirled at Ducky, staring at her accusingly as she gave him away. Meanwhile, the pale-green swimmer was deep in thought, Ferris seemingly contemplating about the current turn of events in his mind.

Seeing no point in hiding from Ferris anymore, Petrie confirmed his alias with a reluctant sigh. "Yeah. That me name." The swimmer inwardly cringed when he realized that his verbal tic of saying "me" had unconsciously crept back into his speech once more.

"Paddy…" Ferris snorted, rolling his eyes exasperatedly as he began to walk back and forth. "If I didn't know any better, I'm almost tempted to say that you came up with that name right on the spot…" he grumbled under his breath, not knowing just how close his words were to the actual truth.

"You do not know him?" Ducky cocked her head, puzzled when Ferris did not appear to recognize Paddy. "But he told me that he is a part of your herd…"

Ducky's carefree observation caused Petrie's breath to hitch as he choked back a horrified gasp. No, no, no!

Ferris was going to ruin everything!

And sure enough, the swimmer in question stopped pacing about, staring right at Petrie when he heard those words. "He… what…?"

Despite Petrie's best efforts to contain the false identity that he had spun up on a whim, it was now exceedingly clear to the increasingly panicking swimmer that he was now caught in the thread of his very own lie. After all, how could the son of the herd leader not be able to recognize his very own herd member?

In the spur of the moment, Ferris' position in the swimmer herd had completely slipped his mind…

"This swimmer, part of my herd? I refuse to believe this nonsense!" Ferris was livid, the swimmer's eyes animated with anger and disbelief at what he had just heard from Ducky. "This is completely absurd!' he snapped, stomping his foot against the ground so hard that an imprint was left there.

Petrie couldn't help but to shiver when Ferris pointed at him in fury. "Look here, you! Do you think that I'm stupid?" The swimmer paused there, almost as though he was expecting Petrie to insult him by answering in the affirmative. Only when Ferris still got no response from Petrie did he continue. "You happen to be a member of my swimmer herd? How very convenient…"

Ferris withdrew his finger from Petrie so that he could proceed to clap his hands together in a sarcastic beat, "…except for the fact that I've never seen you in this herd before!" he finished, glowering at Petrie as he let the accusation hang in the air.

And there it was, the question ruthlessly rolling in like a bad storm which brought lots of sky water.

Petrie had been rightfully afraid of this, and sure enough, Ferris had indeed managed to catch the glaring mistake. The pale-green swimmer didn't even give him a chance to breathe, scowling as he stormed up to Petrie and stood on tiptoes so that he could stare the other swimmer down.

"You're not in my herd, you stinkin' liar. Just what sort of game are you playing with me?" Ferris demanded in a low and harsh tone, his stance rigid as he glared at Petrie. "Who are you, who sent you, and where are you really from, huh?"

Petrie quivered under the sheer adamance laced within Ferris' voice, falling on his rump as he backed away from the agitated swimmer. Yikes, where had _that_ attitude come from?

The vile swimmer seemed insurmountable and indomitable, the steadfast attitude Ferris had on display radiating from and blanketing him in a confident aura. It was a far cry from the pitiful performance that Petrie had witnessed earlier when Ferris ended up tongue-tied by the female swimmer.

Was this really the same swimmer who he had managed to witness getting completely trampled over by that other female swimmer when he was hiding in the shrub earlier? Now this was a side to Ferris that Petrie had never seen before — the difference was like night and day, especially compared to the cordial and carefree attitude which Ferris had adopted yesterday while talking to Ducky.

In fact, this was much more reminiscent to the Ferris that Petrie had first seen before Ducky unsurprisingly turned him down. Back then, he had been brave—or perhaps oblivious—enough to insult Cera until the threehorn finally lost her patience. The flyer-turned-swimmer now had a sneaky suspicion that the smarmy Ferris had been partially faking—or at the very least restraining—his actual personality when unceremoniously dumping a proposal on poor Ducky the previous day.

And the reason for that was quite simple. It was likely that Ferris had wanted to make a good first impression by playing it cool and pandering to her friends — in other words, them. Even when he pushed Cera's buttons, Ferris had decided to make a hasty retreat and not stand his ground, which was very unlike what he was doing now. Perhaps he didn't feel as threatened by another swimmer who was around his size as compared to a menacing threehorn like Cera.

Yeah, Cera was terrifying, alright! Petrie didn't care that he had to be saved by his friends when he haphazardly let the remark slip from his beak yesterday, he still stood by his statement. _Me no take it back! Cera threehorn… she can be real scary when she angry!_

All in all, it wasn't a far stretch to assume that the agitated Ferris which Petrie was seeing right now was the real Ferris, with all of his illusions stripped away. It was the closest thing to an establishing shot that he would be able to get from Ferris, considering that he was seeing the swimmer's true colors shine through a non-biased perspective since Ferris now had no reason to keep up pretenses in front of who he thought to be a complete stranger.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Some herd ranking shenanigans again, Ferris?"

Petrie jumped to his feet when he heard the audacious remark, doubly so when he realized that Ferris hadn't said it. Whirling around, he caught sight of a confident girl strutting in their direction.

There was no mistaking her. She was the female swimmer who had been dominating Ferris earlier. Petrie could feel her eyeing him, her vision snaking across his body. When he covertly tried to sneak a peek in her direction, Petrie had to fight his body from visibly reacting when he saw the suspicion in her green eyes.

Crap.

Petrie decided he didn't like the way that her eyes were boring into his soul. Had she managed to catch on to his lie? Like Ferris, did she realize that he couldn't possibly be from their herd? From what little information he managed to glean off the swimmers when listening in to their conversation earlier, Petrie had the feeling that she was definitely a no-nonsense dinosaur.

And apparently, he wasn't the only one to dread her appearance.

"Oh, no." Ferris bemoaned, his face turning an even paler shade of green than his current coloration when he saw the female once more. "Not you…" the swimmer let out a pitiful whine, "…why are you back to torture me yet again?"

"Like I can't torment my very own brother?" she replied with gusto, a wide smirk on her face. "You know, it's a younger sibling's birthright to do that, Ferris."

Younger… sibling? Petrie's face contorted to one of pure confusion. This swimmer was Ferris' sister? The two of them were actually siblings?!

He… did not anticipate that.

"Well, I'm telling you to stop right now because I'm older than you!" Ferris grumbled, waving his arms frivolously to show his agitation.

"By only about six egg-shakes, dear brother!" she countered, the shape of her beak forming a wry grin. "Don't you try using the 'because I'm older' excuse on me! For all intents and purposes, the two of us hatched so close together that we might as well be twins."

Ferris idly kicked his feet against the ground, unwilling to look her in the eye. "But I'm still older, sis…" he whined, pouting in as cute a manner as possible. Petrie actually performed a double-take at Ferris' facial expression, still unable to reconcile this awkward persona when Ferris was with his sister to the authoritative one that he'd been displaying to Petrie up till now.

She shook her head, something resembling pity flashing on her face. "Nice try."

As Petrie watched the vitriolic antics of the two, he couldn't help but to draw a parallel between them to Littlefoot and Cera, or even to his very own siblings.

"Amaryl! Please… just stop." Ferris squinted his eyes, losing his patience as he practically pleaded with the sassy female to halt her mischief. Taking in a sharp breath and spinning his head to Petrie, his voice finally regained that cold edge he had prior. "We have serious business to deal with here."

"You mean that swimmer you were about to interrogate?" she responded, cackling when she saw her brother's dumbfounded face. "Yeah, I overheard you talking from the distance. Don't act so shocked, Ferris. You have a very recognizable voice."

Rather unusually so, Petrie observed that Ferris' younger sister appeared to be relatively nonplussed about the state of affairs regarding his identity. In fact, Amaryl almost seemed to be dismissive about the whole thing, which was rather unusual given that she must have swiftly realized that his initial claim was not very truthful. It was in stark contrast to how Ferris was reacting, that was for sure.

"Yeah, I mean him! I mean, sis! You clearly know he's not part of… you know what, forget it." He cut himself off, not wanting to dwell on the subject matter. "Arguing with you is a lost cause."

"Well, if you already knew that he was faking being with us, then why even bother with the whole charade?"

"I was going to force a confession out of him, but I guess that's all futile now, thanks to you!"

"Oh, I am sorry. My bad, Ferris."

Even Petrie was able to tell that Amaryl was purely apologizing for the sake of formality and wasn't actually being sincere about it at all. She took the blame as-is, but otherwise did nothing to assist Ferris.

Ferris knew as well, but could only bite his lip. "Since that's that case, I suppose we can simply cut to the chase now."

"Oh?" Amaryl smirked mischievously. "What do you have planned for him?"

"The usual, of course…" Ferris crossed his eyes, the grin of his face gaining a tinge of malevolence as it widened, "…test their worth."

Petrie did not like the sound of that. The discernible gasp he could hear from Ducky only seconded his opinion.

Amaryl gave Ferris a curious look. "The last swimmer that we had to test was the new herd navigator, Jovi. He joined us in the Cold Time while offering his expertise as a farwalker to guide the herd to any location we desire." She sighed despondently, gesturing her arms about as she paced. "Our father might have accepted Jovi when he saw how advantageous it would be to have him around, but seriously, what sort of _imbecile_ goes into the Cold Time unprepared and begs us for company at his age? That guy's moronic!"

Ferris hit his thigh as he let out a chuckle. "That Jovi was inducted into our ranks close to half a Cold Time ago, and yet to this day I still cannot understand the way that weirdo thinks. For lack of a better word to describe him… he's eccentric." He then spun around to Petrie. "My point is, even Jovi had significantly more to offer than you! Yet, we still had to put him to the test before he could join us in earnest. All that being said, he did pass the given challenge, of course…" Ferris scowled at the confession, rubbing the back of his head in annoyance.

"You lost a swimming race against Jovi… _Jovi_ , for crying out loud!" Amaryl clicked her beak. "How is that even possible?" she said in an exasperated voice before proceeding to let out a haughty boast. "If it were me in your place, I would have won with my eyes closed, and that's after giving Jovi a head start!"

Ferris snapped his head back to Amaryl, scowling when he observed that his sister was chortling, no doubt because she saw that she had received a discernible reaction from her brother. "Will you quit with the verbal jabs already?" he demanded with a low hiss.

In the meantime, Petrie was contemplating the new information that Ferris and his sister had let slip to him.

Of course… Jovi! The nice, if shy, swimmer that had warned him and his friends about Ferris to begin with. It had completely gone over Petrie's head earlier, but now that he thought about it, it struck him that the reason that Jovi was so well-versed in matters with regards to Ferris was _because_ he happened to be in the same herd as Ferris.

The meek swimmer's personal warning to Petrie came rushing back to him at full force.

 _"Plus, it doesn't help that Ferris is one stubborn and persistent swimmer. He simply won't quit until he gets what he wants…"_

From what Petrie had derived from their conversation so far, it was exceedingly clear that Jovi was one-hundred percent right on the mark with regards to his comments about Ferris. He was stubborn, alright — Ferris was not letting up on his suspicions now that he was aware that something was fishy.

"Anyway, my point is that I'm an accommodating swimmer, if I do say so myself. I'm perfectly willing to look at the situation and accede to your request, Paddy…" Though Ferris sounded humble, Petrie knew that the young leader was merely patting himself on his very own back.

"Bartley!"

Petrie flinched at the sudden shout, covering his ears with his wings… no, _hands_ in an effort to muffle the shrill cry, which was so loud that it caused his inner ear to throb painfully. Visual and auditory senses were key to a flyer, which meant that loud and raucous sounds had always confused and disorientated Petrie, the impact even more apparent whenever he was airborne.

And as a swimmer… that hadn't really changed for him. Not used to his new body and reacting to the noise on instinct due to his muscle memory as a flyer, Petrie felt his legs giving way, unintentionally causing him to lose his balance and collapse to the ground for the second time.

Ferris flicked his eyes over to Petrie, a trace of concern sparking across his face before promptly resuming his task. "Bartley! Where are you?" he repeated, cupping his hands over his beak as he threw his voice across the clearing, "Get over here, on the double!" The tone of his gathering cry was brusque, making it clear that the summons was an explicit demand, only further accentuated by the young swimmer tapping his feet impatiently against the ground as Ferris clicked his tongue in annoyance.

After a brief moment where the numerous swimmers around could only look at each other as an awkward silence descended upon them, Petrie got to his feet when he heard the sound of running footsteps. Turning his head towards the source, he saw a swimmer with light gray coloration, the shade akin to that of the dark sky puffies which Petrie knew tended to bring sky water. As the swimmer finally reached the front of the one who'd called him, he stopped his sprint and clutched his chest while sharply inhaling large gulps of air.

Petrie furrowed his brow at the new swimmer, who by common sense and process of elimination was most likely the Bartley whose presence Ferris had demanded for. The funny part was that Petrie hadn't even seen the swimmer until Ferris had called for him, and yet from the relatively short reaction time that it took for him to appear, it was clear that Bartley must have been hovering around the area, else he wouldn't have heard Ferris call for him at all.

"Y-yes, sir?" Bartley wheezed, struggling to catch his breath. "You called?"

"You shall be my witness, Bartley." Ferris patted the panting swimmer on the back as he strolled towards Petrie. "Yes, I'm afraid it is _that_ time again…"

Petrie and Ducky shared a glance, the green and black swimmer not liking Ferris' scornful tone or his emphasis on the word 'that'.

"Alright then, Paddy…" Ferris rubbed his hands together, fern-green eyes gleaming with excitement. "We shan't beat about the treestar bush any longer. Let the Test of Joining commence! Ah ha ha… your inauguration is at stake!"

Petrie blinked perplexedly. "Inauguration? W-what that mean?" he asked, cocking his head in confusion.

"I heard my Pops say it before." Ferris grunted, promptly shooting a warning glance at Amaryl when he heard her snickering. "It's apparently some sort of fancy way of saying 'joining'. Pops said it sounds cool, so I just roll with it… I suppose." The subconscious eye roll that the swimmer performed as he explained the term showed that Ferris didn't quite buy into his father's own words himself.

"Really?" Amaryl muttered, the light-green swimmer stretching her hands into the air and letting out a bored yawn. "You're going to give him a chance to prove his worth and join us? Just like that?" She snorted, looking at Ducky and Petrie contemptuously. "Your leadership style is senseless, Ferris. Frankly, I find the current state of affairs in our herd to be deplorable."

"You stay out of this, Amaryl!" Ferris shot his eyes over to Petrie, causing him to shudder. "This is between me… and _him_." The icy expression that Ferris currently had was very unbefitting on his face, contrasting greatly with his warm green eyes. But it certainly did its job well — it was definitely an intimidating pose.

However, Petrie soon noticed that the brash swimmer was restlessly darting his eyes between him and Ducky, who was situated beside his current position. Like the morning fog clearing up, it was at this exact moment that the unusual actions which Ferris had taken since he'd first instigated and confronted Petrie finally made sense.

 _H-He jealous of Petrie? Is it because… me and Ducky close?_

Before he could ponder the thought further, Ferris went up to Petrie and proceeded to bop him on the beak, causing the black swimmer to scowl at Ferris as he clutched the area where Ferris had touched him. "Wh-what you do that for!?" he sputtered indignantly.

"Yeah! That is not nice! Nope, nope, nope!" Ducky looked at Ferris with a disgusted expression. "Tell Paddy that you are sorry!" she demanded.

Though Ferris flinched at being reprimanded by Ducky, he refused to let up on his assault, his expression only becoming firmer. "Hmph! No one taints the name of my Pops' herd… the greatest swimmer herd that there is in the entire Mysterious Beyond!" he gloated with pride. "You want to pretend to be part of it so badly? Well, here's your chance! This is your price for admission — besting me in a one-on-one swimming race that takes place in fast water!" Ferris proclaimed, his eyes blazing with vigor.

 _Sw-swimming race? I-in fast water? Fast water!?_

"So, do you dare challenge the great Ferris?" he sneered, his face practically inches from Petrie's, "Are you in or out?" Ferris folded his arms, refusing to withdraw his dangerously glinting yellow eyes away from Petrie. "Go on…" he threatened with a snarl, "…I want to hear an answer from you, Paddy."

On his part, Petrie found himself breathing heavily at Ferris' challenge. This was a major problem that Petrie was now forced to face head-on, and it was one which would be quite hard to tackle — he hadn't the slightest clue about the intricacies of swimming due to the fact that he was, well, _not_ born a swimmer.

Ever since he had first learned to fly, Petrie quickly surmised that large bodies of water were his sworn nemesis due to the fact that his wings becoming damp would greatly compromise his ability to fly. After all, he had no reason to ever go near big water as a flyer. His domain was the air!

But now that he was trapped within the body of a swimmer…

Petrie shivered, feeling his throat growing parched as he swallowed down a gulp of saliva. Bringing his limbs up and seeing hands where his wings would have been caused a feeling of dread to grow, the discomfort swirling around his belly. Mentally cursing Vekal in his head for the umpteenth time, Petrie quivered as he found himself thoroughly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 _Me need swim to prove me worth to join swimmer herd? Now Petrie really no like this! Me know that me need do this else Ducky and Ferris think Petrie lying and no tell full truth, but how can me possibly beat swimmer like Ferris in water race? Petrie bad enough in air race with me brothers and sisters, but me no even know how swim! Me definitely gonna fail challenge, me just know it!_

Petrie tore his eyes away from Ferris and chanced a glance towards Ducky, the flyer-turned-swimmer all but lamenting his demise as his mind found itself deadlocked on whether he should chance accepting a dangerous proposal for the third time, with only one singular thought causing him to hesitate from taking the plunge.

 _Me may be flyer…_

… _but me no can be swimmer…_

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

It's taken a bit, but we finally get to see the migratory swimmer herd in action. Sorry that this took so long to come out, but the organization that I'm currently working for in real life got hit with two audits in a row. But now that it's finally over, I should have more time during the summer to work on my ongoing stories. :)

We're swinging right back to Ferris and the whole Ducky ordeal, and man, is Petrie in for something now that he's caught in dire straits with Vekal's second deal looming over his head. Taking the identity of Paddy but finding himself caught in a lie almost immediately… is not a good start. With Ferris agitatedly unleashing his own challenge against Petrie, how will our favorite flyer… sorry, swimmer, make it out of this in one piece?

…

 **Keijo6:** Poor, poor Petrie. He's prone to getting fooled in the films, but I hoped that he didn't come off as too gullible in this as I tried to show that Petrie falling for Vekal's reverse psychology trap was more of a 'spur of the moment' thing since he had to battle and weigh the pros and cons of taking the plunge in his mind. Still, I'm ecstatic to see your enthusiasm overall. You are indeed right to say that the basic foundations of the idea have been set up, but this story is still in its early beginnings — I've barely been able to scratch the surface with the concept yet. Rest assured, there will be more to come!

 **DiddyKF1:** Vekal is indeed a callous flyer, and he's definitely someone who acts as though he has all the cards and pieces in place before he even makes a move… and yeah, the impression that you've garnered regarding his cruelness is not unfounded. Needless to say, Petrie is in for quite a bad time, especially given that he'd run into an overeager Ferris almost immediately, who had unintentionally been the catalyst for Petrie's transformation into a swimmer to start with.

 **Guest:** Stop pre-empting me with your reviews, I can't reply to guest reviews via PM! But still, the answer to that question is in this very chapter — Petrie's now Paddy. :p

 **Rhombus:** Neat observation there, those are indeed valid hypotheses! While Ferris might seem rather one-note and a typical 'third-wheel antagonist introduced for the sake of romantic tension' in his first appearance, he is indeed a more nuanced swimmer than he initially appears, as demonstrated by this and the previous chapter. Certainly someone to keep an eye out on, given that his relationship with the rest of the herd has been all hearsay until now.

…

And next time… swimming, perhaps? Poor Petrie! Will he have to accept Ferris' challenge to maintain his cover even though the deck is stacked against him? Or alas, will being a swimmer be too much to bear?


	7. Padding the Inevitable

**Chapter 7: Padding the Inevitable**

"A duel for supremacy, eh…?"

Gloomy eyes shimmered as an adolescent flyer cautiously perched himself along the jagged rocks of the valley cliff, keeping out of sight of the unfolding gauntlet that had been thrown and yet still trying to ensure that he was within hearing distance.

Oh, he could most certainly hear everything play out from where he stood. He could hear it all, loud and clear. "But you already knew that this would be the outcome, didn't you?" the flyer scowled with disdain as he observed the proud swimmer below challenging his adversary. "In fact, I'm willing to wager that you're laughing your wings off even as I speak…"

" _This is your price for admission — besting me in a one-on-one swimming race that takes place in fast water!"_

He aggressively tapped his talons against the rocky outcropping, gritting his teeth in agitation as he observed the trembling black swimmer. This had all the telltale signs and schematics of the Shiny Stone of Great Change written all over it.

" _Did you hear? I caught wind of something really interesting the other day. Some yellow runt was talking to that idiot who went after the Stone of Cold Fire. He said that there exists a shiny stone… that can change one's species!"_

" _Are you kidding? That Pterano's after such a thing now!?"_

" _Yep! He called it the shiny stone of… something."_

" _Bah! Don't be ridiculous! Change your species with some kind of stone? That flyer must have had one too many blood-sucking buzzers hovering around him. I guarantee you that he pulled that nonsense right out of thin air!"_

" _You weren't there, so shut your beak! I saw both of them talking with my own two eyes! That flyer looked dead serious, and so did that old coot Pterano! I didn't catch the tail-end of their conversation, but crazy or not, there's gotta be some truth in it!"_

" _No offense, pal. But I think you've had far too little water. Your head's probably now frying under the Bright Circle. Look, you're just imagining things."_

" _H-Hey! I swear that it really happened! You can go ask the others if you doubt my account! They saw it too!"_

The flyer would freely admit that he had scowled when he first heard that conversation. All it took was a few passing flyers in another herd to mention those sentences while gossiping in the vicinity and the members in his own flock of flyers had ended up being sent into a complete uproar.

Apparently, the details of the conversation between Pterano and his colleague that took place in the confines of some undisclosed desert had been overheard. And now, the resulting rumors were quickly being spread across the entirety of the Mysterious Beyond in an unstoppable wildfire through word-of-mouth.

"Vekal… you magnificent idiot. Why did you have to pull some stupid stunt by attempting to recruit an infamous flyer like Pterano with all those witnesses hovering around?"

That was the reason he had made his way over to the Great Valley on his own accord — to confirm if Pterano had made contact with the leaf-eater haven after Vekal had reached out to him. Every flyer in the Mysterious Beyond knew about the tale of the proud flyer who attempted to gain power for his species, only to fall short when the stone had turned out to be a dud.

He had heard from those many recounts and tales that Pterano was a cunning flyer. Though the passing flyers had said that Pterano rejected Vekal's offer, he wanted to observe the valley to see if that was indeed the case. It wouldn't surprise him if that was why Vekal had his eye on Pterano in the first place. After begrudgingly working with him, the one thing he learnt about Vekal was that the yellow flyer was incredibly spiteful and manipulative.

But whatever it was that had drawn the aged flyer to Vekal in the first place didn't matter. What mattered was not the 'why', but the 'what'. And what other reason would there be for Vekal to seek someone like him out other than to scout them for some favor or errand, tempting Pterano with the ever-elusive Shiny Stone of Great Change, holding the promise of a stone out to him like a dangling tree star so as to ensnare Pterano into servitude.

He was forced to admit that he couldn't exactly blame Vekal for tempting Pterano with the power of the shiny stone — it certainly was an effective proposal. The boss had made the exact same offer to him, and the tantalizing reward was a very potent motivator in convincing him to join.

Now if only Vekal had been more careful when making his own recruitment pitch…

There were but a scant few in the Mysterious Beyond who knew of the shiny stones and the full extent of its unorthodox powers, but this was the first time since he had served under his sinister boss that the carefully hidden existence of these magnificent objects had been unveiled. But now, that ability was out in the open, blatantly being mentioned by others outside of the loop with reckless abandon.

And it was all Vekal's fault.

The flyer snarled.

Though he had come to the valley to look for Pterano, he instead managed to gain a far better scoop based on his observation of the swimmers on the ground — almost undeniable proof that one of the valley residents had been transformed by the stone. He even had a hunch on who it was simply based on the amount of times Vekal had ranted about a certain group of leaf-eater children during meetings with their combined superior.

Unless he was crazy, this had to be the work of the Shiny Stone of Great Change. But what stumped him was that only source of those stones was his boss…

" _You heard him," Vekal had said to him with gleaming golden eyes as the duo watched their boss gliding in the air, the flyer so far away from their vantage point on the ground that to them, he appeared to be nothing more than a tiny speck in the sky. "Phase one of the plan is now firmly underway. Since we did such a good job in convincing our new ground-dwelling partners that we'll be indispensable allies moving forward, I think I'll celebrate by paying a visit to that accursed valley. Ahahahaha!"_

He narrowed his eyes as he recalled Vekal's dismissive words the last time they'd met, before lashing out against the rocky wall that was his perch, his eyes twitching with fury.

Their boss controlled the cache of shiny stones, but from what he was seeing right now, it was clear as day that Vekal had to have gotten his wings on one of those very stones. There was no other explanation for his cocky and downright careless behavior.

Damn it all, the conspiracy couldn't fall apart like this! He had been there when the alliance first begun! He was a loyal subordinate, and had called first dibs on getting his grubby wings on one of those legendary stones… and yet, it appeared that his very own associate had managed to curry the favor of the boss before him.

That resourceful, beguiling little runt! How dare he! How could his superior entrust a stone to Vekal before him!? He felt cheated… why was it that he was passed over for the opportunity to wield one of the mythical Shiny Stone of Great Change, with the boss electing to hand over command of such a valuable reward to that wretched Vekal instead?

Could it be that his vital contributions towards the success of their grand scheme had somehow been overlooked? No… impossible! He was far better suited to success than his comrade! _He_ deserved the shiny stone, not that damn smooth-talking flyer!

"Just what do you desire out of playing around with mere swimmers? They're a waste of time, completely unbefitting of such power!"

And why, above all, did that damn pterosaur pawn such a priceless jewel off to some random nobody? What blasphemy! Moronic imbecile! If that unlimited power was in his wings instead of Vekal's, he knew that he wouldn't play around with it and instead treat the shiny stone the way it was meant to be treated… with reverence and respect!

He would undoubtedly use it to far greater effect as compared to Vekal!

The pteranodon narrowed his eyes, smirking to himself as he glanced back down to the swimmers below. It mattered naught to him what Vekal did with the stone he had now, anyway. In fact, truth be told, he was rather glad that it had played out this way.

What he had seen in the valley was prime blackmail material which he could use to his advantage by feeding the intel back to his superior, the head honcho behind the entire operation.

Zalus.

There was no doubt in his mind that Zalus wouldn't be pleased when he learned that Vekal was running amok with his stones. An image flashed in the flyer's mind as he visualized the likely outcome of what would happen after he nonchalantly handed over a verbal report regarding Vekal's non-compliance to the boss.

He could see a calculating carrion flyer—one so large that he dwarfed most other flyers despite his age—angrily musing over the situation, crimson bloodshot eyes gleaming menacingly before the enraged flyer extended his wings, taking to the skies so that he could hunt down his unruly subordinate in betrayed fury. Maybe if he was lucky, Vekal would wind up being scoffed down Zalus' throat instead of being let off the hook, as far-fetched as that outcome may seem.

After all, it was more than a minor infraction, and it was one that had been made at a critical juncture…

Well, one could certainly dream. The pteranodon already knew that he was definitely going to have pleasant sleep stories tonight now that he was armed with this knowledge.

He gleefully folded his wings in triumph. Regardless of what happened, it was all but guaranteed that in the aftermath of such a revelation, _he_ would replace Vekal as Zalus' favorite subordinate.

"Messing around with those swimmers is your big mistake… a mistake which I fully intend to capitalize on! Your moment under the Bright Circle as Zalus' favored number two is about to draw to a close, Vekal! At long last, my time has come! Thanks to your folly, I'll finally get the reward I rightfully deserve! The only one who shall be deserving of such power from the boss… will be _me_!"

Giddy with excitement, the flyer sniggered to himself in delight, though he did make sure to muffle his laugh using his wing so as to prevent himself from being noticed by anyone down in the valley below.

It wouldn't be long now before one of the fabled Shiny Stone of Great Change would practically be his!

* * *

Ever had that terrible feeling where you tried to pinch yourself really, really hard in the hopes that you were stuck in a bad sleep story?

Compounding onto that question; upon the realization that nothing was real, would you use the ability of being lucid to command your active imagination and allow the imaginary ground to swallow you whole?

That was exactly what Petrie was feeling right now.

 _Why me? What Petrie do to deserve this? Someone, please, help me!_

The fervent green eyes that were boring into his didn't help matters. Ferris was leaning towards Petrie, anxiously awaiting a response.

What could he possibly do in such a perilous conundrum? Caught between two equally bad options, it was plain as day to Petrie that either accepting or declining would lead to disaster — agreeing to undertake a race without the relevant skill set needed to master the rapid fast waters was tantamount to suicide since he was guaranteed to lose, and declining Ferris' challenge would further raise already heightened suspicions, possibly outing his true identity of Petrie with grave consequences.

" _The terms of the deal are set, Petrie. Succeed and I'll change you back into a flyer. That said, I doubt that you'll succeed. And I'm afraid that your failure means that I'll have the last laugh."_

It went without saying that his bet with Vekal made earlier in the day was now being stressed to the limits, those terms now put to the ultimate test. What had initially seemed like an easy challenge for Petrie to simply still his tongue until nightfall now became an astoundingly hard feat as the black swimmer found himself increasingly tempted to blow his cover to try and simmer things down before they could get any worse.

Petrie had to tightly clamp his beak shut — the appendage protruding between his eyes at least one similarity which was shared between his former and current species. The thought was a source of comfort to the former flyer in such trying times, small and minuscule as it was.

Fate was conspiring against him. And unfortunately, the decision had already been made for him by extenuating circumstances outside of his control.

The issue was that he _couldn't_ act like Petrie. A heedful Ducky had already been suspicious about him since the very moment she first met him in his new body, whether the swimmer consciously knew it or not, so opting to back down from Ferris much like what he would've done as a flyer whenever he was unsure or uncomfortable about something was a surefire way for his best friend to eventually look past logic and put two and two together…

…with disastrous results.

Vekal's callous threat of leaving him stuck in this new form for eternity should any outsiders discover the horrifying truth was not a tantalizing prospect. The thought of it shook Petrie down to his very core.

Petrie bit down onto his tongue, the swimmer hardening his inner resolve as he glared towards the baleful Ferris. Like it or not, he was left with no other choice in the matter.

It was all or nothing.

"Okay!" Petrie stormed back at Ferris, folding his arms in a manner akin to how he would have wrapped his wings around his body as a flyer. "M… I'll do it!" he stammered, almost wanting to hit himself at his near slip of the tongue with "me" again. Now was _not_ the time to be done in by something as fundamentally basic as speech.

Ferris furrowed his brow for a moment, before snorting and throwing back his head. As he looked to the sky, he let out a cold laugh. "So it is set. You and me, Paddy."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Petrie jumped into the air, frantically waving his arms to Ferris' annoyance. "How about we do it tomorrow!" he suggested, nervously tapping his foot against the blades of grass under him. If he could somehow get Ferris to stall it until the next day, he could simply disappear into thin air after…

"Am I a joke to you?"

Petrie gulped as he looked at Ferris, the swimmer completely amused by his input. "I dictate the terms around here. Don't tell me what to do." The swimmer tilted his head in the general direction of the Thundering Falls, the roar of the falling water discernible even from this distance. "Follow me. Let us meet at the foot of the waterfall."

Right as Ferris took a step forward, he wavered, proceeding to turn back and glower at Petrie. "From what you just told me, I know exactly what you're thinking, Paddy. Don't try to run away with your tail between your legs. If you want to join this herd, you better not be some sort of coward!" he told his competitor. His eyes then hovered over to the other two swimmers by his side. "Amaryl, Bartley!" he snapped with disapproval, gesturing them towards him with his fingers. "Don't just stand there. Follow me to the river so that you can judge this competition!"

"Yes, sir!" Bartley immediately charged forward. It was evident to Petrie that the swimmer had thoroughly scouted out the place when he was shadowing Ferris earlier due to the fact that he, despite being Ferris' subordinate, had already outpaced Ferris himself and was now at the front of the group. The gray swimmer seemed well aware of the direction which he should take to get to his appointed destination despite still being a greenhorn to the valley.

"An endurance race to prove whether a swimmer like that weakling is worthy of joining our herd. Or perhaps, is it more? How very interesting, dear brother…" Amaryl murmured, before falling in rank alongside Ferris. "Perhaps this will be worth my time after all."

Once the three swimmers took their leave, Petrie slumped to the ground, hitting the blades of grass in frustration and despair.

What had he done?

"There, there. It is okay…"

He heard Ducky's consoling remark before he felt her physically comforting him, turning his head back to see his swimmer friend massaging his tense shoulders with her hands. "You should calm down and relax. You do, you do," she advised as gently as possible, her eyes closed in melancholy as she spoke. "Everything will be okay. There is no need to be worried about bad Ferris."

Petrie managed to crack a faint smile at those words. If there was one thing that he could always rely on Ducky for, it was her willingness to readily look for a glimmer of hope even in the bleakest of situations. He couldn't even begin to count just how many times one of her many optimistic suggestions cheered him up, playing a part in motivating him and the others even during the gang's darkest hours.

"Th-thank you," he managed to express his gratitude with a stutter, showing a genuine smile for the first time since he'd found himself trapped in this whole ordeal.

"It is no problem!" Ducky insisted, starting to cheer up herself. "Nope, nope, nope! You are my new friend, and we as friends should always stick together with one another!"

Petrie was pretty sure that he'd heard that before from one of their prior adventures, but the distraught swimmer couldn't for the life of him pin down exactly which one of them it was. Nevertheless, he let out a wistful sigh as he relaxed and found himself leaning back.

Ducky let out a small squeak in surprise as he did so.

It was only upon hearing Ducky react audibly did Petrie realize that she had been standing directly behind him, and hence his slight movement to the rear had resulted in him accidentally bumping right into his best friend's chest.

His beak hung open in stupefied shock, cheeks rapidly growing pink in mortification. Before he could apologize profusely for unintentionally bumping into her with his gesture, Ducky proceeded to kneel down on the ground and took a sitting position just like him.

With some fidgeting and movement, her new posture allowed the exhausted Petrie to lie down and rest his head on her belly. From his current position, Petrie could see a portion of Ducky's head poking out of the top corner of his peripheral vision. "You look sleepy. You do, you do," she observed with a giggle.

He wasted no time in confirming that notion by letting out a mournful yawn. Truthfully, being tired and requiring someone to support his shaky legs wasn't the only reason he had leaned towards the swimmer and used her stomach as a makeshift sleeping spot.

It was instinct, pure and simple.

Though he didn't understand exactly why, he found himself craving the physical contact that they were currently sharing. As Petrie, he'd playfully tackled and tousled with Ducky before, typically during one of the gang's many games. The fact that the flyer was roughly the same size and physique as the swimmer was usually why their friendship had been closer compared to say, a large longneck like Littlefoot, who comparatively towered over him. It was just easier for them to interact with one another, and thus together the swimmer and flyer shared a bond that was unlike any relationship between the other members of the gang.

As a result, Petrie found himself blissfully relishing the moment, frozen in time as the black swimmer propped his head on his friend's belly while she consoled him with a hand stroking the crown of his head. It was the closest reminder of the normalcy that he once had prior to today.

But just like everything that seemed too good to be true, it too had to come to an end.

As Petrie leaned into her touch, he soon became aware of a distinct shape by the side of his vision. Twisting his head slightly, he managed to catch a sight that he didn't expect to see.

Preening by one of the many tall mountains of the valley was a flyer who was keenly looking in his direction. Petrie couldn't make out their features from the distance, but from what he could garner the observer appeared to be a flyer who was colored a light brown shade, the tone very similar to that of his older brother Gryphon.

Normally, Petrie would be content to wave the whole thing off as a coincidence, but he started to have second thoughts about that mindset as he felt the flyer's unwavering gaze bore into the back of his head.

As he squinted his eyes to get a better look, he saw his covert observer flinch abruptly, looking as though they were taken aback by something. Before Petrie could even get up and try to take a step towards the looming cliffs that lay in the distance, the mysterious brown flyer took to the clear skies with a squawk, never once looking back.

It didn't take long for an unpleasant conspiracy to take root in his unsettled mind once that happened.

" _I have my ways of knowing. Spill the sweet bubbles and I will ensure that you stay this way forever…"_

Petrie let out a strangled gasp, freezing up as he realized that the apprehensive feeling that had been swirling in his gut was quickly being justified. Shifting his head away from the comfortable position he'd been in, Petrie switched from laying down on his back to being upright in an instant.

"Are you okay?" he heard Ducky ask as she tilted her head at him, confused by his violent reaction. "Did I do something wrong?"

Petrie shushed her with a finger, never taking his eyes off the spot where the roosting flyer had made himself comfortable before disappearing in a frenzy. "Just now, m-I saw flyer stand way up over there, near top of Great Wall… you saw him too, right?" he prompted Ducky for a response.

Though Ducky found herself confounded by the switch in topics, she answered anyway. "Oh, no. I did not see any flyer. Nope, nope, nope!"

How very unfortunate. Petrie eventually tore his eyes away from the sky and stared at his arms, now coated with a night-black shade instead of stretchy brown wings.

The walls of the valley, which usually brought Petrie a sense of safety and security from the many terrors that lay outside in the Mysterious Beyond, now conversely felt like it was suffocating him from all sides.

He felt like a prisoner in his own home, trapped and at the mercy of outside forces. To add insult to injury, only yesterday those dominating walls would have been a joke to him, as he would have been able to scale past them with a few flaps of his wings, wings that he now sorely lacked.

As such, when Petrie had spotted the flyer by the wall, his thoughts had immediately jumped to the one flyer who was responsible for his current predicament.

Yes, Vekal. When it came down to it, there was no denying that the cruel, impassive flyer was at the heart of everything.

And now, Vekal was once again haunting him, only this time in broad daylight. From the very moment that Petrie had first crossed paths with Vekal, the adolescent flyer had exhibited an implacable, intimidating aura around him.

It was blatantly obvious after just a bit of analysis that Vekal was firmly in control of every aspect regarding his journey, and the cruel flyer made darn well sure that Petrie knew it. When Petrie tried to leave after witnessing the dismissive way that the flyer had introduced himself, Vekal remained undaunted, calmly reversing the situation by bringing Ducky up and calling his bluff, ultimately sealing the former flyer's fate when he all but handed Petrie the shiny stone.

Although he had only interacted with Vekal a mere two times, Petrie could already tell from those relatively short encounters that the flyer wasn't one to give up without having his way. As a matter of fact, he wouldn't hesitate to say that Vekal was a dinosaur who would do whatever it takes just to ensure that he got the outcome he wanted.

However, Petrie also knew that the flyer who had been gawking at him from the top of the Great Wall was most definitely not the same calculating flyer who had plunged his life into utter chaos. Vekal was a shade of sickly yellow that he would never be able to forget, but the suspicious character that he'd spotted hovering about was nowhere near that color.

He vigorously shook his head, trying to settle his nerves. There could very well be a rational explanation that didn't involve any insane crazy-prepared flyers who just so happened to take sadistic pleasure in transforming hapless flyers into swimmers. In fact, there was a decent chance that he was simply overreacting and seeing links in things that weren't actually related at all. If all of this fretting was simply the result of his paranoia going wild, there could very well be a perfectly logical explanation as to why that flyer was perched there and a rational reason as to why he had reacted in such a spooked manner when Petrie finally noticed his presence.

That, or he could be right on the mark. The possibility of that was further amplified when Petrie recalled that Vekal had been adamant that he would be the winner of the bet between them…

It was a simple logical deduction, really. Vekal had been resolute in declaring his intent to win. But while he seemingly appeared to be unfettered by anything or anyone, Petrie knew that there was almost no way that Vekal would dare run the risk of showing up in front of the grownups once the deed had been done. After all, no matter how smarmy and unscrupulous Vekal was, Petrie had no doubt that any one of the grownups like his mother could—and _would_ —kick the flyer's sorry tail should they find out about what he did to a valley resident.

However, if Vekal were to let a subordinate report about Petrie's actions to him, he would be able to keep himself out of the limelight…

Petrie let out a gasp.

No wonder Vekal had been so confident in his ability to predict whether he would stray from the prerequisite conditions of the bet… the wily flyer was still finding ways to keep an eye on him even without being physically present!

That coward! While Petrie did concede that doing so was a smart move on Vekal's part, it was still cowardly nonetheless.

" _I'm pretty sure I made it quite clear yesterday night that I have a vested interest in witnessing the outcome of your scuffle with your swimmer friend and that other stupid swimmer from the herd."_

Even though it was a bright and warm day, Petrie could feel an icy chill running along the length of his body. Vekal had said it himself… he wanted to see the result of the tussle between him and Ferris!

There was no doubt about it in Petrie's mind. If he tried to confess the truth to Ducky, Vekal would be alerted instantaneously by whoever his confidant was. And since the flyer had been watching him (and still might be, albeit in a more hidden fashion from now on), Petrie couldn't escape from Ferris either — with the messenger reporting back to Vekal, chances were that the careful Vekal would take no chances and watch over his subsequent actions more intently now.

The way that things were going, Petrie wouldn't be surprised if he actually saw Vekal in person sometime during the course of the day. That flyer _would_ want to watch Petrie suffer… it definitely was the masochist's style.

With so many eyes now on Petrie, or rather his new alter ego Paddy, the transformed flyer wouldn't be able to keep himself safely hidden out of sight and avoid any unwanted interactions until the Bright Circle went down, which was what he'd originally planned to do when he agreed to Vekal's second deal in the first place.

How was he to know that he would run into one of his friends almost immediately? Or that he'd wind up the center of attention when Ferris proceeded to throw down the gauntlet?

Petrie reluctantly dragged his feet forward, glumly accepting the inevitable. There was no way he would be able to squirm out of Ferris' challenge if Vekal was going to stick his nosy beak into things.

At this rate, it looked like he would just have to wing it.

He had barely taken three steps forwards when Ducky sharply turned her head towards him. "Where are you going?" she questioned, anxiety written all over her body language. "Are you actually going to face off against that no-good Ferris?"

No words needed to be exchanged between them after that query. Even without receiving a verbal reply, Ducky's pleading face made it obvious that she knew exactly what her new swimmer friend was up to, to the point where she was adamantly begging him to recant.

"You will not change your mind?" she pushed when she saw Petrie remaining impassive, the piercing question causing him to gulp in dismay.

He couldn't falter. Not here, not now.

Whimpering in fear… now that was something which was synonymous with Petrie. It was a defining trait of his character, something which everyone who knew him personally would expect from the flyer. But under Vekal's watchful eye, Petrie knew that he couldn't even act remotely like his former self lest someone figured it out. He knew that Vekal would take great delight in permanently leaving him in such a state, and he refused to be stuck as a swimmer forever!

Until the Bright Circle descended, he would have to be Paddy.

So what would Paddy do in this scenario? Well, as a swimmer who was "interested" in being admitted into the echelons of the farwalker swimmer herd, Paddy would readily agree in taking Ferris on and earning his place.

That meant that _Petrie_ would just have to face his fear and make an attempt at the challenge.

"You are really going to race with Ferris?" By now, Ducky had quit trying to dissuade him. Instead, she was now eyeing him despondently, knowing that she couldn't make him reconsider by backing down.

Petrie wanted to reply with " _what choice me have?_ " Instead, he took in a deep breath and tried to put himself in an external frame of mind, acting and responding in the Paddy persona that he'd created.

Hence, the new swimmer decided to react in a way he never would have before. "Yep, yep, yep!" Petrie replied cheekily, plagiarizing Ducky's catchphrase word for word before placing a hand to his mouth to muffle his laughter.

Ducky's eyes widened in surprise before she shook her head in disbelief. "You are mean, Paddy!" she chided, wagging a finger at the other swimmer accusingly. "You talked-ed like me on purpose! You did, you did! Oh, I am so mad at you!"

Petrie tried to flash Ducky a winning smile, which only resulted in her huffing and looking away.

Well… that somehow worked out. He had managed to frustrate Ducky to the point where the vexed swimmer was now keeping unusually silent, which was definitely a good thing in his current situation. Ducky typically enjoyed interacting with her friends, so managing to keep a peppy bigmouth like her quiet was beneficial. The less she spoke, the less he would be required to reply, and thus the lower the chance of him accidentally blurting out any vocal tic which could be likened to his flyer self.

And thus, the two swimmers started to walk forward, silently marching along in the general direction that Ferris and his cronies had directed them in.

Although Petrie put on a brave face on the outside, inwardly he was completely scared out of his wits. He couldn't swim, and unfortunately with a flyer he suspected to be on Vekal's side watching him, he couldn't stall the competition either! To top it all off, it wasn't just a regular contest, but it was going to be one in fast water!

It was a fight he was destined to lose…

Petrie clenched his fists, gnashing his teeth as the words from one of Vekal's many wild claims streamed into his head.

" _I assure you that with this stone in your possession, you will be able to prevent your friend from being stolen away by the clutches of unfair love."_

Those words reverberated around his head, repeating over and over like a foreboding metronome stuck in a perpetual loop.

"You big liar…" he murmured softly. That was what Vekal had claimed, but thus far it seemed like the opposite was true. Even as a swimmer, he couldn't win against Ferris, so what was the point of it all? To have a real opportunity to prevent Ducky and Ferris from getting together and hence having to leave the valley was the one silver lining that he'd been promised after his unwarranted transformation, but since Ferris had retaliated immediately, Petrie wasn't even allowed this one glimmer of hope.

Ducky tilted her head at him. "What did you say-ed? I did not hear you properly."

Petrie stopped dead in his tracks, a look of abject horror rapidly spreading across his face. _Eep… oh no, Ducky hear me! This bad, this very bad!_

Seeing the other swimmer freeze in place, Ducky waved her hand in front of his face. "Uh, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah!" Petrie squeaked a little too hastily. "M… I okay."

Gah… that was cutting it way too close! He had panicked and almost relapsed right in front of Ducky! Constantly using 'I' in place of 'me' was really taxing on his cognitive state… so much so that he instinctively reverted back to his usual speech pattern when caught off guard. While his voice as a swimmer was nowhere near as squeaky as compared to when he had been a panic-prone flyer, there were only so many coincidences that one could accept before someone who knew Petrie well would draw a terrifyingly accurate conclusion, regardless of how different his voice sounded now and how implausible it seemed.

And indeed, the attentive Ducky had managed to catch the slight hitch in his reply. Gently patting Petrie on the back, she tried to coax the stressed-out swimmer. "You do not look so good. You are scared-ed, huh?"

"Yeah…" he admitted. No point in hiding it now. As much as he'd tried to suppress it, the fear was probably written all over his face.

Finally receiving a positive confirmation of her new friend Paddy's apprehensiveness, Ducky wasted no time in digging deeper. "Poor, poor Paddy. If you do not feel ready, then why not just tell Ferris that you do not want to take part?"

Petrie took in a deep breath, the air catching in his throat when he realized exactly why he couldn't follow that suggestion. As though Ducky's question had cleared up the muddled fog in his mind, in that moment the way out of his predicament became clear.

Since the point of time where Ferris laid down his challenge, he had been looking at things from an incorrect perspective.

Even if he couldn't run, he still had another way out.

"Because Pe-Paddy need join swimmer herd!"

That was a lie, of course. Petrie never had any intention of doing that… that goal was what Ferris had inferred from the swimmer when he'd tried to disguise himself as a member of the farwalker herd and gotten himself exposed.

Nor for that matter, was he going to beat Ferris. He wasn't delusional. He knew that without any experience, there was no way that he could possibly beat Ferris in a race between them.

And despite knowing that, he as Paddy was still going to partake in Ferris' contest.

The catch was that he _wasn't_ intending to win it.

Not at all. He wasn't even going to struggle.

It was the perfect plan. Completely refusing to swim or backing out would raise suspicions, so instead he intended to deliberately throw the race by taking it slowly. This way, he wouldn't make his way into the swimmer herd (winning was very unlikely to happen even if he did try), which would certainly please the arrogant and prideful Ferris. Furthermore, by still taking part in the race he wouldn't blow his cover by drawing any unwanted attention to himself, thereby thwarting whatever devious scheme that Vekal and whoever that other flyer was had in store for him.

He had two challenges to deal with, but upon closer reflection the truly important one that he needed to triumph was Vekal's. Now that he was known to others around him as Paddy the swimmer, it was imperative that he make it to the end of the day with this identity intact. By losing to Ferris on purpose—but at least attempting to compete against him and not making it obvious that he was intentionally throwing the race—he would shake both Ferris and Vekal off his tail in one fell swoop.

"I see…" Ducky withdrew her hand. "You really hope that you can join those swimmers, Paddy?"

He didn't answer. He didn't need to… it was a rhetorical question.

As Petrie pushed past some dense vegetation which obscured his view, what greeted him was a faint smell of moisture in the air. He whistled as he finally arrived at his destination — the base of the valley's primary water source, the Thundering Falls.

From where Petrie was standing, he had an impressive view of the large volume of water that cascaded off the top of the Great Wall, the bulk of it landing in a large lake which then fed multiple runoffs that splintered away from the main catchment, spreading the life-giving liquid all across the valley.

"What took you so long, Paddy?"

He and Ducky turned around to the source of the voice as one, only to see Ferris sitting on the edge of one of the riverbanks, sloshing his two feet about in the churning water. "I was almost beginning to think that you'd actually fled in spite of my warning."

Petrie kept his face neutral, free of any pesky emotions. He didn't want Ferris to know just how close to the truth he'd been with that hypothesis.

He sucked in a gulp of the humid air around him, taking in his surroundings. Verdant vegetation covered the banks of the stream, the dark green juxtaposed by the azure blue of the swift currents which complimented the foamy white river that flowed to his front.

Try as he might to retain his confidence as he saw the frothy bubbles, for a brief moment he lost control of his pessimistic self, an unfavorable hypothetical 'what-if' scenario creeping into his brain. Petrie had to will himself to not think about what such a grisly fate would entail, the swimmer screaming at his overeager brain to reign in his very active imagination lest the images overtook him.

 _When Petrie flyer, me master of skies with me wings_ , he told himself, trying to calm himself down with anecdotal evidence. _Me may be scared of flying before me meet Littlefoot and friends, but now me expert flyer! Since Petrie swimmer for today, me need conquer water instead! Even though me no know how swim, it still no problem for Petrie… all me need do is be in water and act like me swimming!_

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ferris mused as he admired the fast-moving water, incognizant of his rival's inner anxiety. He then turned towards Ducky, eyes twinkling roguishly. "…almost as beautiful as you."

Ducky simply glowered at the swimmer in a glorious response that Petrie made sure to remember in his head for a long time. "Do not try to play nice with me! Do not, do not," she shook her head. "Your nice words will not work on me after what I have seen how mean you are to Paddy. Nope, nope, nope!"

A discomposed Ferris sucked in a breath, the disappointment of hearing Ducky's denouncement as plain as day on his face. "A-apologies, m'lady! It is not my intention to make you upset." His green eyes softened as he tried to plead with one very cross Ducky. "You see… I can't just let him walk away scot-free after making such an implicating statement."

None of this hampered the obstinate Ducky, who decided to make one last attempt to protest Ferris' insistence to duel with Paddy, this time by appealing to Ferris himself. "But do you have to be so stubborn? Can you not just forgive him? Huh, huh?"

Those eyes hardened again as Ferris jumped out of the river, pointing to Petrie in a barely controlled rage. "Forgive him?!" He began to breathe heavily. "Absolutely not! A complete nobody like him can't j-just…" His muted-green body quivered as his next words remained lodged in his throat, the young swimmer leader clearly struggling to maintain his composure before spitting them out in a bout of anger, "…claim to be a part of _my_ herd!"

He then relentlessly continued on his tirade, completely undaunted by the gaping Petrie, who could only look on at the raving Ferris wordlessly. "How dare that swimmer! My Pops worked hard to earn this herd's reputation, so I'll definitely take offense when someone who's clearly unaffiliated with us chooses to blatantly use our name in such a flippant, disrespectful manner! We have a reputation to uphold!"

Petrie tried to keep his beak level, his eyes wide in disbelief at the incensed rant he was hearing. This was ridiculous… absolutely bonkers!

Considering that Ferris had been trying to get his smarmy tail together with Ducky ever since he'd first introduced himself, what he was doing now completely went against everything that Petrie had thought of him — Ferris gave the impression of being nothing more than a superficial pleaser during their first meeting over by the hilltop facing the tree sweet tree, the proud and insensitive swimmer whispering sweet nothings to Ducky without a shred of concern of how the uncomfortable Ducky would reciprocate.

" _Plus, it doesn't help that Ferris is one stubborn and persistent swimmer. He simply won't quit until he gets what he wants…"_

Herd navigator Jovi had even cautioned him that Ferris was someone who wouldn't relent or give up in his pursuit of success. And yet, with Ducky being as averse to conflict as she was, following through with the fast water challenge wasn't going to win Ferris any points in the love department, especially after she'd clearly expressed her displeasure about the competition.

And yet, Ferris refused to yield.

Up until now, Petrie had surmised that the reason Ferris demanded the challenge was purely because he had been jealous about how a random swimmer like Paddy managed to get closer to the swimmer who he liked than he did. But now, that thought process was thrown into complete disarray by the fact that it seemed as though he wasn't throwing down the gauntlet to impress Ducky at all.

He was doing it in retaliation of 'a nobody like Paddy' sullying his herd's name.

Was trying to defend his herd's reputation genuinely higher on his priorities than attempting to please a female whom he liked?

This was a pressing question, considering that going through with the challenge would have the exact opposite effect of wooing Ducky. As a matter of fact, Ferris was actually ruining the formal image that he'd painstakingly cultivated in front of the gang the previous day. The swimmer had actually lost his temper and fought back against Ducky's suggestion, which probably impeded any significant courting progress that he could have made since yesterday.

It boggled Petrie's mind. Why was Ferris so adamant on doing this when it would hurt his chances of being with Ducky? Were Ferris' priorities more skewed than he'd first assumed?

He certainly wasn't the only one to think that. "Reputation?" Ducky folded her arms, repeatedly tapping her foot against the ground while gawking at Ferris incredulously. "You mean the only reason you are so angry is because of something like that? I am confused! It does not seem all that serious to me, so I do not understand why you have to be so mad at Paddy, oh, no, no, no…"

Amaryl snorted, speaking up on her brother's behalf for the first time since Petrie and Ducky had arrived. "Trivial? You have the gall to suggest that this matter is _trivial?_ " she muttered, her bright green eyes darkening and flashing with a venomous fury, "Idiotic swimmers! You don't know my older brother, not in the slightest!"

As she spoke, she shot Ducky such a disdainful look that her beak visibly curled upwards in disgust. Petrie had to gape at how vicious Amaryl's glare was — this swimmer was not someone to be trifled with. And just like that, the atmosphere around the group steadily grew tense, a strange antipathy descending upon the general vicinity.

Petrie warily looked at the stream of torrential fast water. He felt his beak tremble when he saw that the water in the river was visibly choppy due to the flow of the water upstream directly exiting from the Thundering Falls.

Never before had he felt so completely out of his element. It had been a very long time since he had felt this way, not since… since…

…not since those days of old where his fear of flying left him unable to command the sky, all but bounding the flyer onto the ground below. But after utilizing his newfound ability for so long, Petrie was forced to admit that he had completely taken his gift of flight for granted, so to have the ability cruelly snatched away from him now was overall a very jarring experience for him.

Adapting back to being a land-dweller again was surprisingly hard.

What Petrie wouldn't give right now to be able to fly away from his troubles and let go of everything, throwing it all behind him. But unfortunately for the black swimmer, he was truly stuck in an inescapable dilemma, sucked into this disastrous plight as though he was standing atop a pit of sinking sands.

As Petrie continued to stare at the river, Ferris took the opportunity to strut over to his front. "You see that river, Paddy? If you want to talk big, you better prove the weight of your words. In this close-knit swimmer herd, you'll have to earn your way in!" Ferris snarled, raising a hand to the sky and clenching it into a fist. "I won't call you a brother-in-arms until you do!"

"Oh, you are as hot-headed and stubborn as Cera," Ducky noted with a covert grin. "You are, you are…"

Petrie couldn't help himself. He ended up hollering at the apt comparison.

Though Ferris didn't understand the joke at first, he knew that Paddy had to be laughing at his expense. It took him a while to recall exactly where he'd heard the name before. "Isn't Cera that terrifying threehorn friend of yours?" Ferris grumbled with a scowl.

"Yep, yep, yep! She is, she is!" Ducky nodded at him benignly, her cool deposition having a calming aura on the dinosaurs within the immediate vicinity.

"Ah, the reckless and hasty one! I think I remember her!"

Everyone turned towards the source of the unexpected addition to Ducky's answer.

"…who said that?" Ferris muttered.

A cheerful whistle filled the air until the approaching swimmer who was walking towards the river sheepishly realized that he was now the center of attention of four separate stares.

"S-sir…" Jovi stopped his approach, frightened amber hesitantly meeting agitated green eyes, "…surprise seeing y-you over here," he greeted, waving at Ferris weakly.

Ferris folded his arms, his face contorting with displeasure upon seeing the slightly-older swimmer. "What brings you here, Jovi?" He frowned, eyes turning bloodshot. "Don't tell me you've come to laugh at me after the humiliation I had to go through during our last race!"

Jovi backed away, waving his hands frantically to deny the accusation. "N-nothing of the sort! The thought never crossed my mind! I just wanted to note the course of the river, th-that's all! Your father, Geoffrey… he'll certainly want to know the layout of this entire valley!"

Ferris tilted his head slightly. "My Pops?"

"Yeah… I'm pre-empting Geoffrey's orders in advance before he actually makes me do it! Heheheh…" Jovi shifted his feet skittishly, giving Petrie the impression that he was rather unconfident about whether such an excuse would suffice. "B-but, I must say that I'm surprised, sir. Normally a challenge like this would be broadcast to the entire herd." He looked at Ferris in confusion. "So why is this the first time I've heard of this?"

Amaryl cackled. "You're one to talk, Jovi! Whose fault do you think it was, huh? After you soundly thrashed Ferris in the last one, do you think my brother is going to want a live audience this time?"

"That's right!" Ferris gritted his teeth, wincing at the memory as he stared Jovi down. "Today's race was deliberately kept hush-hush from Pops! I will settle this by my hand!"

"I-I see…" Jovi let his eye waver, his field of vision soon coming across the other two swimmers standing by the sidelines. "Hey, I remember you as well!" His face lit up in recognition, the swimmer rhythmically strumming with his index finger as he tried to jog his memory. "You're… Ducky, right? I met you and your friends yesterday!"

Both Ferris and Amaryl's neck snapped towards Jovi at his surprising declaration. "You know her, Jovi?" they asked in unison.

"Y-yeah, I d-do…" Jovi's eyes bugged out when he realized that he was again the center of attention. "I don't recognize the other swimmer she's standing next to, though…" he added with a conspiratorial whisper, meekly shrinking back at Ferris' unrelenting gaze.

Ferris tapped a digit against his beak contemplatively. "I suppose that I have a use for you, Jovi. The race is between me and that swimmer, and it is about to be underway."

Jovi's face turned pale. "That p-poor swimmer…"

"There's no need to pity him, Jovi. I've situated Bartley at the finishing point to judge the winner, and Amaryl's going to stay at the starting point over here so that she can referee the beginning of the race." Ferris looked at Jovi expectantly. "Since we now have one additional swimmer to assist us, how about you walk along the length of the river to oversee and make sure that neither of us attempts to cheat by making sure we remain in the river at all times."

Jovi nervously twiddled his fingers together. "I-I can't say n-no to that, can I?"

"Well, what do you think, Jovi?" Ferris' face darkened as he fired off the rhetorical question, voice turning curt in an instant as he jerked his thumb inwards. "My herd, my rules. _I'm_ the one in charge here, remember?"

The swimmer yelped, timidly bowing his head in submission. "O-of course, sir! I'll gladly oblige, Ferris!"

Right as Jovi looked like he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, he suddenly jerked his head towards Ducky. "Wait… one swimmer?" he repeated Ferris' earlier words in confusion, "Aren't there two swimmers not involved in this race of yours? What about Ducky?"

Amaryl narrowed an eye, interested at Jovi's observation. "Hm… you do have a point. My brother didn't count her in his calculations."

"If that's the case, how about if you follow me, Ducky?" Jovi offered with a smile. "If you just stay here and mope about, you won't know who wins. At least if you accompany me and patrol along the riverbank together, you will be able to follow the progress of the race. I take it that you want to see Ferris and his challenger both race against each other?"

Ducky immediately jumped at the offer. "Oh, yes, yes, yes!" she nodded ecstatically. "I do want to see Paddy swimming… Ferris too! I do, I do!"

Petrie fought back a smile. He'd caught the pause before Ferris' name. There was no doubt in his mind that Ducky had just added that part to please Ferris.

And amazingly, the gullible Ferris bought it. "Well, thank you for your support and encouragement." Ferris waved to Ducky as Amaryl stared at her brother dubiously. "I sincerely hope that you'll enjoy my upcoming performance!"

Instead of playing along with Ferris, Ducky decided to mess with him. "Oh, I hope you win the race, Paddy. I hope, I hope," she said, encouraging Petrie with a thumbs-up in an epic display of blatant defiance towards Ferris that caused Amaryl to guffaw out loud.

"Good luck, sir!" Jovi nodded at Ferris, before turning to Petrie. "And I wish you the best as well…" he trailed off, furrowing his brow in frustration. The scar under Jovi's right eye almost seemed to expand as his facial muscles tightened. He eventually tapped Ducky on the shoulder, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Say, do you know his name?" he asked.

"Paddy," Petrie and Ducky replied simultaneously.

"Oh." Jovi chortled as he beckoned Ducky to follow him. "Well, as I was saying, best of luck to you, Paddy." He shot a reassuring smile at Petrie before spinning on his heel and walking away, "I'll be rooting for ya!"

"Don't support the enemy, Jovi! I'm number one around here, you damn traitor!" Ferris shouted at the retreating swimmer before closing his eyes and exhaling. After what seemed like an eternity later, only when Ferris was one-hundred percent certain that Jovi and Ducky were out of earshot, did he continue to speak.

"Well, well, well. It looks like m'lady has finally left the premises."

A chill coursed through Petrie's body as he bore witness to a most uncouth expression flickering across Ferris' face. "I suppose that now means it's just you and me, Paddy. No more holding back. Without Ducky's presence, there's no longer a need for me to worry about her fuming at me."

Amaryl scowled at her brother's admission. "Who cares if she's angry, Ferris?" she asked dismissively.

"Hey, now!" Ferris shrugged, trying to deflect his sister's criticism. "I wasn't going to act like a prat in front of Ducky! Especially not when she's already mad at me…"

"Oh, really? Since when did you ever care that much about your image in front of some girl?"

Ferris' cheeks reddened. "T-this is different, Amaryl!" he spluttered, trying to downplay his actions.

Needless to say, Amaryl wasn't buying her sibling's perceived nonchalance. "So if Jovi didn't ask Ducky to follow him in overseeing the race, would you have been the one to make the suggestion? Do you have any idea how awkward it would be if you were the one to suggest it? You already know she doesn't like you!"

"For now!" Ferris uttered. "Ducky and I got off to a rough start, but we'll patch things up, just you see."

"She's a stubborn one, Ferris." Amaryl waved a hand contemptuously. "You don't stand a chance."

"You're wrong, Amaryl!" Ferris retaliated, clenching his fists. "I'll win her over… she'll come around!"

Petrie rolled his eyes at Ferris' unbounded optimism with regards to Ducky. _You no going be able do that if your attitude stinks!_

"Ha!" Ironically, it looked like even Ferris' own sister had turned traitor on him when it came to relationship advice. "You really don't understand girls, Ferris." Amaryl's smile then proceeded to widen into a vicious grin as she let loose another vicious jab. "Just as much as you don't understand our herd."

"S-Shut up, sis! I _have_ to be with her… I must be with her!" Ferris stated matter-of-factly, his eyes glinting with madness as he repeatedly emphasized his point by hitting his two palms together with every forceful word of his pledge. "I can't lose to anyone… I _won't_ lose to anyone, not now, _not ever again_! I refuse to disappoint Pops!"

Petrie shuddered as he saw Ferris continuously repeating the mantra to himself like some kind of madman. Given a choice, he would actively opt to put up with Cera on a bad day in a heartbeat over listening to more of Ferris' overt smugness. His narcissistic cockiness literally oozed off him, wafting off of Ferris like an appalling stench that repelled everyone away from the swimmer.

Ferris tilted his beak upwards, laughing at the slowly darkening sky. "Can you see me now?" Petrie could only blink in confusion when he realized that Ferris wasn't talking to him or his sister. Instead, the swimmer appeared to be talking to himself, consulting the sky with his words. "This is a matter of pride! One day, I _will_ be the leader of Pops' herd of swimmers, subservient to no one else! But to reach that point, I will have to do my best to impress Ducky, and that means that I can't go around and lose to yet another no-nothing runt!"

"Still mad that you weren't prepared for Jovi being better than you had anticipated when you challenged him?" Amaryl taunted. "Man, he sure got you good. The look on your face when he overtook—"

"That's enough of that." Ferris cut in before Amaryl could say anything else that incriminated him. "You see why you can't beat me, Paddy? I'm putting just as much on the line as you are… probably more, actually," he corrected after a discrete pause. "Right now, I am staking my reputation as Pops' son on my assured victory over you! I was even forced to go against kind-hearted Ducky's wishes just so I can have the pleasure of demonstrating firsthand just how talented of a swimmer you'll have to be in order to join our elite herd! By contrast, what do you have to lose if you don't win, might I ask? With the exception of squandering your chance to join us, you incur practically no loss!"

Petrie couldn't help but concur — that was why he'd planned to lose in the first place.

"Listen up, buster. I would have let it go if you hadn't straight-up lied about being in my herd, and to an outsider to boot." His green eyes grew shifty. "Yes, I was paying attention to what Jovi said earlier. If he did indeed run into Ducky and her large group of friends yesterday, then I would have seen you as well. The fact that I didn't imply that you're not in her inner circle of friends, are you?" Ferris deduced, the accuracy of his deduction to the actual truth making Petrie flinch. _Paddy_ had literally met Ducky today, after all. "If so, how can you lie so casually to a girl you just met? Are you tricking that sweet thing for your own personal gain, you scum?"

Oh, yeah… Petrie could definitely see the jealousy in the swimmer's eyes now. And given how Ducky had hovered around him to keep her distance from Ferris, it was no wonder that the swimmer might have gotten the wrong idea about things. Besides Ferris and his incumbent wish to defend his herd's honor, that could also have been a contributing factor as to why he had been so pushy about the contest. Petrie could see how Ferris could come to the conclusion that he as Paddy had tricked Ducky in order to get close to her.

 _But me only close to Ducky because we friends! It no me who want get close to Ducky because me selfish swimmer… it you!_

"Furthermore," he continued, "if there's one thing I hate, it's having my authority undermined. You think you can make a fool out of this herd? Don't take us lightly! I am the son of the greatest swimmer leader to ever walk this land!" Ferris gloated, gleefully rubbing his palms together before locking his fingers and stretching both arms outwards. "Incorrigible fool!" he snarled, "You stand no chance against me!"

Petrie frowned. _Me know that…_

But what could that self-entitled swimmer possibly know about his situation? Ferris knew zilch about his internal strife!

There was no way that the proud swimmer would ever reach the conclusion that Paddy's true concern was not any of the reasons that Ferris had assumed, but rather because he was being held hostage by a conniving, charismatic flyer who had the power to turn one into a different species. The leap of logic from 'random swimmer who also supposedly has an interest in Ducky' to 'species-changing stone blackmail' was so utterly ludicrous that the real reason behind Petrie's actions was likely to never cross his mind.

"Last chance for you to back out…" Ferris murmured, shooting a passing glance over to his competitor. "Are you up for this? I won't go easy on you, Paddy!"

Petrie shook his head firmly. "Watch me win, Ferris!" he fired back with half-hearted gusto, despite knowing that he didn't actually stand a chance.

"Confident, eh? What hidden tricks and tactics do you employ?" Ferris demanded, a hint of shrewdness in his eye.

"No tricks!" Petrie assured. That much was true, at least. He had nothing up his sleeve besides his scheme to lose on purpose… which actually benefited _Ferris_ , so it technically wasn't a lie.

"How interesting. A duel with no trickery involved? That's actually commendable… if you're trying to get pummeled by my brother, that is," Amaryl quipped at Petrie's apparent honesty. "I don't know if you're blissfully naïve or what, but you're taking this extremely lightly. Even that wimp Jovi was crazy-prepared for his race against my brother when he was begging to join our herd just so he wouldn't starve during the Cold Time."

"Well, if Paddy's still overconfident in his swimming prowess to the point where he's simply treating a race with me as a mere joke, I'll proceed to wipe the floor with him." Ferris knelt down and put all of his weight on the heel of his front knee, leaning his upper body forward. "Nobody messes with Pops' herd and gets away with it!"

As confounded as Petrie was about the general behavior of swimmers, there could be no doubt as to what Ferris was doing as he'd seen Ducky in this exact position a few times before in the past — Ferris was in a diving pose, preparing to launch himself forward into the river.

There was no distracting his thoughts away from reality now. As much as he'd tried to hold it off, there was no doubt that the fast water race was about to begin in earnest.

"Oi, Paddy. What are you doing? Snap out of it." The mangy swimmer repeatedly snapped his fingers to get Petrie's attention. "Get into position already. My sis is about to call for the start of the race. You want in, you're going to have to earn it!"

A dazed Petrie nodded at him blankly.

"Are you ready, Paddy?" Ferris asked, his voice as smooth as the surface of a ripe sweet bubble. "It begins and ends, right here and now. In just a few moments you'll learn why you should never cross this swimmer herd. And if you somehow do win… congrats, I suppose.' The frown that descended over his jawline spoke volumes about his sentiments and feelings. "Triumph over me and you'll actually get your deepest desire of joining my herd."

 _It no what you think, Ferris! Me deepest desire actually running far, far away from this!_

With a sigh, Petrie emulated Ferris' movements, taking position alongside him at the corner of a sharp bend along the river which led into a linear stretch that persisted for quite a distance before meandering further downstream. The starting point was set at this ideal spot, located at the beginning of this uninterrupted straight water path.

Taking Petrie's gesture as a call to action, Ferris proceeded to side-eye his sister, prompting her to begin preparations to start the race. Seeing that the two swimmers were ready, Amaryl raised her right arm up to the sky, making it clear that she was going to use her arm movement as the signal to start as she began counting down.

"Three…"

Almost immediately Petrie found himself thrust back to the events of the previous night, hearing a bored Vekal dispassionately counting up to three as the flyer made the threat to leave along with the means of saving Ducky from Ferris' claim on her heart. The possibility of his best friend being forced to leave him and the gang once she ended up being attached to Ferris had been the deciding factor in taking an unscrupulous Vekal's word at face value when the flyer revealed the glowing stone, presenting it as a bastion of hope that would solve all of Petrie's problems.

"Two…"

How very ironic that such a simple countdown could induce so much stress within Petrie in such quick succession. If he'd only known then that Ferris' grip on Ducky's heart was as tenuous as it was instead of letting doubt and uncertainty get the better of him, he never would have succumbed to Vekal's time pressure and landed himself in this disastrous predicament.

"One…"

Petrie glanced to his side and eyeballed Ferris, who was staring straight ahead in anticipation. Taking in a deep breath, he decided to focus his mind on tackling the surging river instead of wallowing in trepidation.

"…zero!" Amaryl declared, bringing her hand down in a swift maneuver. "Let it begin! Winner takes all!"

Both swimmers leapt, landing in the water with two distinct splashes.

There was no time at all for Petrie to get acclimatized with the viscous medium. It was all instinct — a part of his natural body response.

Surrounded by an aquamarine blue, Petrie kicked his feet down, feeling the sandy bank beneath him. He grinned as he planted his foot down on it, using it as a perch so that he could surface. The moment his head burst out, he quickly reached for the grass that was sticking out at the bank of the river, grasping tightly onto it for dear life.

"W-what do you think you're doing?!" The normally-stoic Amaryl lost her cool, looking at Petrie as though the swimmer had gone nuts. It was certainly a sight to behold.

"Me-I no like swimming in this fast water," Petrie replied with a shrug, or at least, his best attempt at one considered that his shoulders were submerged underwater. "Think me gonna walk along riverside instead."

Amaryl's eyes bugged out. "You _what_!?" she shrieked, losing her calm demeanor.

Petrie continued to stride forward, ignoring Amaryl. By this point, Ferris was already well ahead of him, paddling along the violent river with his rhythmically kicking feet. He didn't spare a single glance back.

It was all planned, of course.

When Petrie had dived into the river at Amaryl's command, he made sure to aim at the side of the river and hence managed to get a foothold on a submerged embankment beneath the river located along the shallow riverside. All he had to do after that was remain by the sides of the river, using the grass by the banks as support to ensure that he didn't accidentally lose his footing.

Amazingly, he actually made it decently far using this method, walking along the shallow side of the river until he was nothing but a speck in Amaryl's field of vision. He had planned to waddle along the river to make some distance so that it wasn't obvious that he was planning to lose, continuing to make progress until he received the news that Ferris had achieved his victory over him…

…but being a flyer, he had never been warned about the true strength of rapid-moving water currents. Unlike Ducky or some of the other dinosaurs in the gang, Petrie never had to fight against the raging currents before. His wings usually caused him to stay far away from the water, or at the very least kept him above the surface whenever things went awry.

That latent gap of knowledge regarding how water currents behaved proved to be his downfall.

When Ferris had called for a race in fast water, Petrie had vastly underestimated the power of the current. While he had experienced the effects of it briefly in some of his adventures whenever water was an obstacle, having battled similar waves with his friends, he never had to suffer the full brunt of it before as he typically rode on top of a floating log or on the back of one of the other larger dinosaurs like Littlefoot or Cera.

As hard as he tried to keep to the sides of the river, Petrie found with growing horror that his body was but a slave to the movement of the savage waves. It had been nothing but a minor nuisance at first due to the fact that he'd jumped in at an inside bend, which was where the currents were slower and the bank was shallower. But as he got further and further from the starting point, it soon became increasingly difficult to walk in a straight line, and slowly but surely he had to put in significant effort to keep his body from drifting.

And then…

"Gurk!"

Petrie was unexpectedly thrust sideways by a violent wave, the sudden movement having the unfortunate effect of causing the not-so-proficient swimmer to lose his footing on the shallow embankment that he had been using to keep his head above the waterline to begin with. Before he could even react, the swimmer found himself being wrenched away by the violent current, his body being dragged unwillingly towards the center of the river.

Now that he was exposed to the true depth of the river, Petrie realized with a sinking feeling that his feet could no longer touch the bottom of the fast water. Flailing his arms about in blind panic as he spiraled out of control, Petrie struggled in vain to reach the safety of the riverbank, but before he could even make it anywhere near, the crest of the waves promptly went over the top of his head and sent him under.

He was soon consumed with unadulterated terror, helplessly choking as water entered through his nose. He'd never learnt how to swim, let alone tread water! With this relentless onslaught of waves, there was no way that he could make it back to solid ground!

Eyes wide with panic, Petrie managed to gulp down a mouthful of air before letting out a shrill cry when his head next resurfaced.

"Hellppp—gurk—ppp! Someone help me!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Oh, Petrie. Flyers can't swim, and flyer-turned-swimmers with no knowledge of swimming fare no better in that regard.

So you guys were probably expecting a swimming training scene and/or a race where Ferris completely overwhelms Petrie… but were you expecting him to realize that there was really no point in fighting against Ferris to begin with in his current circumstance? And with another conniving flyer who has their own aims on the loose, the situation has definitely turned dire in the overarching storyline.

…

 **DiddyKF1:** Unlikely as it sounds, you'll have to believe me when I say that it was not my intention to make the double whammy of Vekal and Ferris appear as such a potent dual threat considering how relatively early in the story it currently is. Perhaps I just enjoy writing villains? Which is admittedly odd, given that until this story I never really had much practice for that. Still, I find it interesting that you bring up _The Swimmer Trials_ by referring to Sculra in your review given the similarities in this chapter's start of the rapids race to that fic's many Ducky training scenes. :p

 **Rhombus:** Well, he tried to get around his lack of ability to swim… good plan on paper, but one riddled with many extenuating factors affecting its execution. Perhaps the most unexpected thing was the way that Petrie attempted to approach Ferris' challenge by throwing the whole thing, thus concealing his shortfalls and balancing his secret act, which unfortunately ends up backfiring when the river current gets far too strong for him…

 **Keijo6:** My apologies if this fic is getting hard to read! Petrie is just going through so much in this arc. You're probably the least surprised of everyone here that even more anarchy has descended upon Petrie because of his inability to swim, though. The burden of keeping secrets is eventually destined to bite him in the tail.

 **Anagnos:** Thank you for your kind feedback on this story! I'm especially happy to hear that you are a fan of this writing style because writing elaborative and introspective prose is quite a challenge, but knowing that it pays off is worth it. Ratcheting up the tension—it has to happen, the stakes of a LBT longfic always end up skyrocketing—feels organic to me, and that's because I enjoy writing the antagonists, especially Vekal in particular. And as for the hope spot of training… Petrie was a little too optimistic that he wouldn't require it when he assumed that all he needed to do was throw the match? He probably should've just asked Ducky for help, in all honesty.

…

Even with Ducky's support and encouragement, Petrie has still hit an insurmountable hurdle. Will he make it out of the race unscathed, or will opting not to flee for the sake of keeping to Vekal's deal have more severe repercussions than expected?


	8. Current Events

**Chapter 8: Current Events**

Fortune had not smiled upon Petrie today.

To think that the Bright Circle had only just reached the highest point in the sky, and yet at this point of the day he already had to face down a cavalcade of disaster after disaster, one after another in an unrelenting barrage.

For crying out loud, he was only barely halfway to nightfall! And yet, the speed at which everything had gone awry for him was _legendary_.

One didn't even need to analyze how badly things were going on Petrie's end in order to see the distinct juxtaposition of how he felt before and after his plan had fallen into complete shambles. The difference between how confident Petrie had been when accepting Ferris' challenge with the intent of throwing it and how terrified he became after the merciless water currents proved he didn't need to fake a defeat was so jarring that it was the equivalent of life throwing sand into his eyes and slapping him in the beak.

His sloppy swimmer façade was meant to divert suspicion away, but it went without saying that all of his efforts to conceal the truth would be rendered moot if he ended up drowning in this raging river before the Night Circle could even show itself. Ironically, now he would _have_ to call attention to himself if he hoped to stand the slimmest chance of survival.

"Heeel— _gah_ —lllppp— _ack_ —pp me!"

Petrie continued shrieking as loudly as he could as his helpless body was tossed around as vigorously as a sharptooth shaking its captured prey about. If the vicious current wasn't already vigorously thrashing his body about from all sides, Petrie would be quaking in fear on his own volition.

Now, this… _this_ was pure, unadulterated terror. Ohhhh… he wanted his snuggling stick!

While he had racked up his fair share of moments where he thought that he was done for in the past, almost nothing could compare to the overwhelming finality of this one. There was always a slim possibility of escape those other times, the _'if me outfly them me get away'_ that fondly appeased his dread at the back of his mind during a sharptooth chase.

As a result, Petrie hadn't actually felt this way ever since…

His eyes widened when his mind instinctively managed to complete the sentence. If Petrie could gasp without opening his mouth and swallowing a huge mouthful of water, then he most certainly would.

…because he hadn't felt such crushing despair ever since _the_ Sharptooth himself had tried to drag him down to a watery grave during his first adventure, a full five Cold Times ago.

Who would've thought that his suppressed fear of being consumed by the waves would today come plunging out from his worst sleep stories and into reality? The advent of Ferris' race and its unintended consequences struck at Petrie with a force that the panicked swimmer was unable to cope with.

 _Petrie no want die like this! Me want be flyer again, me no want drown in bottom of fast water as swimmer!_

Whilst he remained draped in despair, that fraughtful inner plea caused a truly terrifying realization to dawn upon Petrie.

It wasn't just the fact that he was going to die which scared the living daylights out of the former flyer. What was arguably of greater impact was the consequence that would invariably ensue in the aftermath.

What truly shook Petrie right down to his very core was the knowledge that if he actually _did_ drown right here and now, he would wind up meeting his end as _Paddy_ , a false identity that he as Petrie had thought up on the spot.

But if Paddy were to make his way to the Great Beyond, well… so would Petrie. After all, they were one and the same…

Even if they managed to recover his cold body from the bottom of the cruel unforgiving depths, the most alarming part of it all to Petrie was that he would end up being identified as Paddy, a swimmer of completely unknown origins who had mysteriously appeared in the valley to challenge Ferris for the right to join his herd and disappeared in sketchy circumstances that very same day.

With so few clues to go on, it would be a far stretch for the valley residents to liken a random swimmer who they've never seen before… to well, _Petrie_. Who would possibly be able to make the leap of logic to deduce that Paddy was actually the missing Petrie when the two of them were completely separate species? The thought process which would lead one towards that conclusion was so exorbitantly absurd that the right idea would never cross anyone's mind!

"Help… gah!"

As azure blue washed over Petrie for what seemed like the umpteenth time, he could slowly feel all primal thoughts of survival leaving every fiber of his being. Despite his instinctual drive to survive, Petrie felt so tired from his constant flailing that he was unable to struggle against the claws of fate any longer. He had expended almost all his energy frantically trying to get to shore, and even his reserves were close to being completely sapped away. Left at the mercy of the waves, the swimmer's head was now as light as a feather, the once tense feeling in his body chillingly replaced by a melancholic and somber calm as he pictured his close ones.

His friends… _his family_.

Images of his closest ones flashed through his mind in droves — from Littlefoot to Cera, Chomper and Ruby, every last one of his rambunctious brothers and sisters, Ducky and Spike, Uncle Pterano, his own mother…

None of his friends or family were remotely aware of the grave danger that he was in, despite the fact that he was still in the valley, right under their noses. In hindsight, Vekal repressing Petrie's freedom to announce his identity meant had the unintended effect of ensuring that the former flyer would end up taking his secret to the Great Beyond if he drowned in the guise of a swimmer.

Perhaps in a way, this was ironic justice. He had been understandably skeptical about Vekal's claim that the stone he was showing off last night would actually be able to drive Ferris and Ducky apart, and this was after taking into consideration that Vekal was quite a persuasive speaker himself. If Vekal had to resort to desperate measures just to persuade a dismissive Petrie to accept, it would be almost impossible to prove to an obstinate valley that a side-effect of the stone was a switch of species without Vekal spilling the sweet bubbles… and Petrie knew for a _fact_ that someone as cold and callous as him wasn't going to admit the truth to anyone if it wasn't to his benefit.

With the valley none the wiser, they would never be able to identify him as Petrie. After brushing off Paddy's death as an unfortunate misadventure, his friends and family would be left blissfully unaware that the meek flyer who they're trying to find… had already ceased to be without their knowledge.

Thanks to one stupid shiny stone, no one would ever know what really happened to Petrie, all because he was trapped in a foreign body when he met his grisly demise. No one would be able to tell in a glance that he was previously a frail flyer kid who had been blackmailed by a cunning pterosaur.

And thus, that flyer kid would slowly fade away. First from their lives, and then, their memories. Although Petrie knew that his family and the gang would hold out the longest, there was no reason for them to suspect foul play with an asphyxiated swimmer who had no apparent connection to him. While mysteries irked the gang—primarily Littlefoot—to no end, he knew that this was a case where they would never be able to get the answers.

They would never get a proper closure about his abrupt disappearance from their lives.

With that final lament in his heart, the lightheaded Petrie felt his eyelids getting heavier, drooping until his field of vision shrunk to the size of pinpricks as he bordered the realm of unconsciousness.

…and then, nothing. Petrie let himself go limp, with what little remaining of his eyesight quickly enveloped by black as the void embraced him.

He wasn't even aware of his body plunging below the surface of the frigid waves, sinking like a weighted stone down to the depths beneath…

* * *

"Bah… curse this blasted headache!"

Pterano scrunched his head up in agitation, landing next to the husk of a withering tree in an attempt to recuperate as a pressing migraine rocked through his head in waves. "Oh, this is not my day," he complained.

As if fate itself conspired to prove him wrong, an enthusiastic voice rang through the air.

"I don't believe it. Do my eyes deceive me? Could it really be?!"

Pterano gazed up to see a young flyer around Petrie's age descending downwards. Landing on the ground, he wasted no time before running up to Pterano and barreling on without restraint.

"You… you're the real Pterano, aren't you? By gosh, it's a real honor to meet with someone of your stature! Right in the flesh, too! Why, your scraggy appearance even matches the descriptions in the stories!"

He had to resist the urge to tell the flyer to leave. As scant as it was, the flyer was _indeed_ company. He rarely had it during his exile thanks to inevitably splitting up from the various flyer flocks he'd joined from time to time, so despite the newcomer's exuberant zest Pterano decided to kill his boredom by making small talk with him. "Thank you, young lad. It isn't often when someone exchange pleasantries with me."

"Well, that's different for me," the flyer remarked, grinning from ear to ear. "Others tend to look forward to seeing me."

Pterano shot a dirty glare at the other party for his insensitive remark. "Well, I for one think that we both lead very divergent lives," he sulked, folding his wings with a disgruntled huff.

Amazingly, the flyer didn't catch the resentment in Pterano's reply. "Right back at you, buddy!" he agreed without a hint of sarcasm, almost causing Pterano to balk in disbelief. Taking a step back and respectfully bowing his head, he then went on to introduced himself with a merry smile. "And in case you were wondering, the name's Cirrus, wandering traveler and deliverer of news!"

Pterano remained unfazed by the youngling's theatrics. "Ah. It is nice to meet you, I suppose," he muttered with a dispassionate voice, deciding not to gesticulate and emote around like he normally would when he was trying to assume an authoritative role. It wasn't worth sparing the effort.

"Oh, no!" Cirrus extended his wings out and waved them about in a placatory manner. "T-The pleasure is all mine, Pterano!" he stammered, before shaking his head and continuing with a more composed voice. "If you want dirt on anyone, I'm just the flyer for you! These reliable ol' wings of mine have taken me far and wide, and thanks to my travels across the land I've compiled together quite the excess collection of juicy gossip. Hitherto, those stories might be inaccessible to the common folk as they lay scattered throughout the vast land, but me and my trusty wings shall bring that information to all!"

Pterano began to grow feisty at the flyer's constant stream of speech, which was so overpowering that even someone like him couldn't get a word in. "Uh, well…" he tried to interrupt to no avail as Cirrus continued to yak on without so much as a hint of slowing down.

"To enlighten others by spreading what knowledge I have to bring joy to another dino's face is so invigorating! That sense of fulfillment… I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world!"

Pterano began to tap the talons of his left foot against the ground aggressively. "Look, I understand your excitement and where you're coming from, but will you please tone down your incessant gibbering—"

"Ever since I was a wee hatchling flyer thrust into this vibrant and expansive landscape, I knew that achieving that lofty goal shall be my solitary aim in life." Still droning on and ignoring an increasingly aggravated Pterano, Cirrus momentarily paused his speech to tilt his head skywards.

Though Pterano enjoyed this brief respite, he paid close attention to Cirrus and managed to discern a misty look in the flyer's teal eyes as he continued gazing forlornly at the open sky.

Blinking away a tear, Cirrus proceeded to energetically thrust a wing up to the Bright Circle, assuming a posture that made it clear that the young flyer was making a vow to it. "Yes, it shall be a test of valor that I must undergo and overcome! Destiny ordains that I will be the greatest messenger flyer who has ever taken flight!"

"Ahem!" Pterano cleared his throat, interjecting with a significantly louder emphasis this time. Fortuitously, after his declaration Cirrus was in a better position to notice Pterano's frustrations and thus finally ceased conversation, allowing the older flyer to heave a sigh of relief. "Have you said enough? I think I managed to grasp the picture here," he grumbled, less than pleased.

"My apologies about that… I tend to get carried away whenever I find myself getting engrossed with a topic of my choosing." Cirrus smiled sheepishly, before beaming warmly at Pterano as he continued forth. "It is my hope that one day, everyone will be more bonded and interconnected than ever before, to the point where my many stories will fuel as many friendships as possible," he declared with a smile. "And for that, I thank you, Pterano! What you strive for happens to be a handy compliment to my greatest wish!"

"What I… strive for?" He sighed at Cirrus, crestfallen. "Confound it… blast it all! You're one of those overzealous flyer fans, aren't you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Pterano leaned his body forward and gave a stern look to Cirrus. "Just so you know, I gave up on the whole Stone of Cold Fire deal a good two-and-a-half Cold Times ago," he kindly informed. He had decided that he wasn't going to play along with Cirrus' misconception, preferring to correct him lest the young flyer continued looking up to Pterano because of his misguided actions from a time long past. It was better to shatter that lie than to selfishly let it fester.

He had certainly come far from the days of commanding Rinkus and Sierra. After seeing a broken-hearted Petrie coming to his defense at the valley trial even after everything he'd done to manipulate his nephew, Pterano swore that he was never going to take advantage of someone's blind naïveté ever again.

And truth be told, Cirrus reminded him a great deal of his favorite nephew. Though they differed in appearance, with them both sporting drastically different eye colors and Cirrus' coat of brown being a touch lighter than Petrie's, the core of their personalities shared eerie similarities.

They were young and impressionable, still untainted by the callous grip of the cruel reality that surrounded them. Picturing Petrie's face in his mind as he looked at Cirrus, Pterano took solace in the fact that he had done the right thing. He simply couldn't have a youngling looking up to him for the wrong reasons.

Still, he had to be cautious about this. Petrie hadn't reacted very well when Skylar tried to tell him that his uncle's tales were exaggerated, and he feared a similar recurrence of that here. Pterano planted his feet firmly on the cracked ground below him, cautiously awaiting Cirrus' response at witnessing his role model smashing his worldview apart.

But to Pterano's surprise, Cirrus didn't react in the way he predicted. Instead, the flyer simply shook his head and let out a hearty laugh, "Oh, no, no! I'm not referring to that old news! What happened ages ago isn't why I'm thanking you!"

"It's not?" Pterano furrowed his brow in befuddlement, placing a wing to his beak as he began to muse. What gives? If Cirrus wasn't getting at the Stone of Cold Fire, what was he blabbering about?

"Nope!" Cirrus sniggered impishly. "It's about what you're doing now! You're famous once more, Pterano! Everyone's been talking about you!"

"Hold up… just a moment now." Pterano stared at Cirrus, his interest now piqued by the pedantic flyer's words. Others were talking about him? This had to be nonsense… some sort of an elaborate prank played at his expense. What could possibly reinvigorate interest in someone who the Mysterious Beyond knew as a flyer whose great scheme to attain the Stone of Cold Fire ended in complete failure?

Unless… no, it couldn't be!

"What you just said really bothers me," Pterano said slowly, carefully choosing his words as he felt a sense of dread beginning to erupt within his stomach. "Pray tell, whatever do you mean by, 'everyone's been talking about me', Cirrus?" he probed, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at Cirrus.

Based on his first impressions, Pterano could tell that Cirrus was someone who could not stop talking earlier. And yet, the chatty flyer was now at a loss for words. Indeed, quite a worrying development, one that was exacerbated when Pterano saw Cirrus scratching the back of his neck, the flyer letting out a nervous chortle in response. "Ah, well, you see, about that…"

"Quit prancing about the treestar bush!" Pterano snapped, the frustration he felt due to a combination of the mounting tension and his splitting headache getting to him. "Just spit it out already, chap!"

Cirrus exhaled sharply through his nose. "Well, everyone knows about it now. The conversation between you and the other guy, to be specific," he clarified. "The impact and implications that this revelation holds are immeasurable… if indeed true, the possibility of changing one's species to another is an astounding ability… one that is a game-changer for the entire Mysterious Beyond!"

Pterano's eyes widened at those words, his worst fears realized. "H-How are you aware of this knowledge?" he sputtered.

"I heard about it, of course," Cirrus answered matter-of-factly. "Since this story sounded dubious at first, especially considering that it was coming from multiple sources—"

"Multiple sources!?"

"—I went through the trouble of looking for eyewitness testimony to verify its reliability," Cirrus resumed speaking, though instead of completely disregarding Pterano like before, the smaller flyer was eyeing him closely when he spoke this time. "I toiled for half a day, but my search paid off. Perchance, I happened to come across a flyer who was there, seeing and hearing your conversation for himself. With a little pressing, he spilled the details to me, swearing on his life that what he told me was the truth."

Cirrus' grin turned wry as he glanced up to make eye contact with Pterano. "In fact, he told me a little tidbit that escaped the masses… namely, that the artifact in question is called the Shiny Stone of Great Change!"

Silence filled the air as Pterano openly gaped at the smaller flyer, his jaw wide.

" _To think that you caught me out so quickly. I'm rather impressed, Pterano. Yes, I do indeed know more than I'm letting on. I have seen it with my own two useless eyes… the Shiny Stone of Great Change!"_

His memory was infallible… it truly was the same term used by that foul wretched teenage flyer! But, that was impossible! Could Cirrus have really learnt about its name through a spreading rumor as he so claimed?

However, if that were the case, then…

Unaware of the tumultuous thoughts inside Pterano's head, Cirrus chuckled and twirled his body around, performing a tiny dance of victory in front of the stunned Pterano. "I'm guessing from your reaction that I hit the twig on the head, eh?" he stated, a satisfied grin plastered on his beak.

Pterano didn't reply, still frozen in a state of stupor. Taking his silence as a confirmation, Cirrus began to muse. "So that means it really _is_ called the Shiny Stone of Great Change! I almost didn't believe the flyer who told me that, but I suppose it was because the main flyer who started this whole thing to begin with wasn't able to recall the actual name of the shiny stone. As a matter of fact, I'm glad to confirm this matter with you so that I can quash any opposing opinions. Now I can say for certain that the object you desperately crave to obtain—"

"Whaaatttttt!? I didn't want to… no, I… graghhhh!"

Having burst out of his self-induced trance at Cirrus' final sentence, Pterano proceeded to react by furiously slamming his wing against the trunk of the dying tree. His outburst was so violent that it actually frightened Cirrus into silence and caused the smaller flyer to seriously contemplate fleeing for cover.

"I straight up declined his offer," Pterano simmered, "and yet everyone is still going to attribute this whole mess to me again? All because of some unfounded rumor!?"

Fearing for his safety when he saw how red Pterano's face was turning, Cirrus gulped and hastily took to the skies. "Um… you know what? I think I better get going now! May our wings cross again someday… _yeah, bye!_ "

But as a result of his swift exit, Cirrus missed out on a key fact that had gone unnoticed by those who were spreading the rumor.

"At least get it right! It was that other flyer's blasted idea, not mine! I had _nothing_ to do with this!"

Only when Pterano sucked in a deep breath and took a look around him did he realize that Cirrus was already gone, having long been scared off by his unexpected rant.

The harsh desert wind was the exiled flyer's only audience once more, leaving Pterano's jaded protests unheard by any entity except the billowing sand.

* * *

"Get a move-on, slowpoke! Gah, where could that Petrie possibly be hiding his stupid beak!?"

"I'm telling you, Cera… I don't know where he is! We've thoroughly combed through this section, and I think Ducky's and Chomper's groups are most likely done checking the parts of the valley that have been dedicated to them by now."

Cera snorted, pawing the ground as she glowered at her friend. "Sure, Littlefoot. Thanks for telling me something we knew since this morning!" she snarked, her tongue as sharp as it ever was, even as the heat from the afternoon Bright Circle caused the weather to become unbearable without any shade. "Oh, that Petrie's gonna get it so bad from me when we finally find his sorry tail!"

"Do you think that maybe, just maybe, Petrie doesn't want to be found?" Littlefoot suggested. "I'm not sure why, but I have this hunch that he's not actually in the Great Valley right now. One of us should have found him by now if he was." The longneck peered towards the sky in thought. "But if Petrie's not here, then he could very well be in the Mysterious Beyond. He can fly, so the valley walls can't stop him if he wanted to fly out—"

"Excuse me? Littlefoot, do you actually think for a fleeting moment that Petrie would _willingly_ fly out to the Mysterious Beyond?" Cera interjected, smirking when she saw that she had caught the flaw in Littlefoot's logic.

Littlefoot wanted to retort, but found that the only thing he could do was stare back at a smug Cera, the longneck completely at a loss for words. While Petrie had vanished into thin air, there were many things about his disappearance that made practically no sense in his head.

Why did Petrie not talk to one of the gang before completely pulling a hidden runner? Why did he never return to his nest in the first place? And most curiously, why did Petrie's mother only raise the alarm in the morning, completely dismissing Petrie's presence and letting her son out of her sight for an entire night when on watch despite knowing full well that he had a tendency of getting into mischief because of the gang's influence? It was completely unlike the levelheaded adult.

All this and more were swarming about his head like an annoying buzzer. Though Littlefoot knew that Petrie leaving for the Mysterious Beyond made no ostensible sense, in his overloaded mind that was the most legitimate option for a vanishing act shrouded in mystery, even though the Petrie he knew was never quite so gutsy to ever pull a stunt like that… without having his trusty friends by his side, at the very least.

Getting no response from a pondering Littlefoot, Cera proceeded to shake her head. "Hmph. That's what I thought." Before she could continue to rub her triumph in Littlefoot's face, a bellow from afar caught her attention. Green eyes shifted their attention from the longneck to the source of the droning sound.

Following suit, Littlefoot blinked and squinted as his own eyes slowly perceived the shape of a familiar spiketail hanging about in the distance. "Sp-Spike?" he exclaimed, beating Cera to the punch.

Unbelievably enough, there he was, grazing on a few treestars with the distinct lack of a swimmer near him. But there was no mistaking the large spiketail, his dark green contrasted by the lighter greens of the plains around him.

"Wasn't he supposed to be with Ducky?" Cera turned to Littlefoot to check with the longneck. When she received a nod in response, she looked just about ready to blow her top. "Oh, great… just great! Ugh, it's just one bad thing after another. What's Spike lumbering over there for? Why did he wander away from Ducky?"

The two traded worried glances. This did not bode well.

But before they could ponder it further, a flutter of wings caught their attention.

"Excuse me? You two are Petrie's friends, right?"

Cera spared a single glance at the small flyer that was now perched directly on the tip of her horn. "Are you playing with me, dumb flyer?" she shouted, shaking him off with a sharp thrust of her head. "Of course we are!"

"Hey! My name's not 'dumb flyer', you mean jerk!" the khaki brown flyer mithered, taking mild offense at the insult. "It's Gryphon! Gee, would it kill you guys to remember my name?" he frowned once he landed in front of Littlefoot and Cera, folding his wings with a challenging expression.

Unfortunately for him, he was challenging a _threehorn_.

"Whatever." An irate Cera retorted back towards the flyer, directly injecting a dose of snobbishness into her tone purely to mess with Gryphon. If she was going to be stuck with the miserable task of finding Petrie for what looked like the rest of the day, then she was going to take her pent-up anger out on others and ensure that they were equally as miserable as her.

Gryphon caught the ire in Cera's voice and prudently let the matter drop. "What I'm about to say might seem to come out of the blue, but yeah… it's about Petrie. I talked to him last night and he seemed completely out of it." The flyer clutched the sides of his head, squinting his eyes shut as he recalled the memory. "He talked to Mom before leaving for a midnight flight to clear his head, but he never came back even when the Bright Circle came up!"

"That's it?" Cera spat incredulously, gritting her teeth before chewing the flyer out. "That's what you came here to tell us? Get with the times, flyer! We knew that Petrie flew the coop since this morning! Your mommy let it slip to Ducky herself, so how about you either tell us something we don't know or stop wasting our time and buzz off!"

"What Cera means is," Littlefoot hurriedly chimed in before the threehorn could continue to exacerbate her verbal showdown with Gryphon and spiral the already derailing conversation down a very bad path, "…hey, wait!" In a hilarious contrast, Littlefoot's very own train of thought ended up being derailed when an epiphany hit him. "There's something he said that we weren't aware of! All we knew was that Petrie left the nest and that his mother didn't sound the alarm until today. We didn't know the details about when and what happened the last time anyone saw Petrie."

The longneck started bouncing on his feet. "It makes sense now, Cera! There was something that was bugging me ever since Ducky told us what happened. Normally Petrie's mother would immediately notice if Petrie was gone, but she didn't notice anything amiss until today because she thought that Petrie was just clearing his head by taking a quick flight!"

"Yeah, Mom was really worried. We're still kind of keeping it low-key for now," Gryphon admitted with a sigh, "Since it's a family matter and only Petrie disappeared instead of the entire lot of you as usual, Mom didn't call for a valley meeting."

"Good," Cera nodded as Littlefoot stifled a chuckle at Gryphon's exasperated depiction of the gang's typical antics. "Don't need my daddy rushing in to give his wonderful opinions, as usual."

"So as I said, we flyers decided to settle things ourselves." Once Gryphon saw that he successfully managed to rile Cera up with his provocative statement, the satisfied flyer continued on. "Mom has the opinion that Petrie had a bit of an emotional breakdown mid-flight and is hiding out somewhere to recuperate. The problem is that we swept the valley from the skies to search for any signs of Petrie since morning, but not a single one of us could find him!"

Littlefoot had to stifle a chuckle when Cera mouthed a near-inaudible "incompetent flyers" to him.

"I have no clue where my brother's disappeared off to, and the guilt's eating at me! In a way, it's all _my_ fault. I could have pressed for details instead of taking Petrie's word that nothing was wrong and heading off to a blissful sleep yesterday night." Gryphon kicked at the ground, dislodging a clump of soil with his talons. "Gah, I should have! Maybe I could have cracked Petrie and figured him out, then perhaps he wouldn't have run away!"

"Run away?" Littlefoot cocked his head. "Whatever makes you come to that conclusion?"

Gryphon shuddered, the flyer beginning to shake. "Look, I'm not dumb. It's the most plausible explanation. I know Petrie doesn't like us very much."

Cera couldn't resist throwing some shade at the flyer. "Gee, I wonder what possible reason he would have for that?"

An uncomfortable Gryphon held up his wings. "Okay, look. I admit that we're not the greatest siblings in the world. I actually used to tease Petrie quite a bit when I was younger. But I remember what changed my opinion of my younger brother… the Day of the Flyers."

The threehorn's interest was piqued with those words. "The Day of the Flyers? It's almost been an entire Cold Time since then. Wow, that reminds me. Tricia's first star day is coming up." Her face softened at that, remembering the scare she went through with Tricia when her hatchling step-sister ended up being swept away by the river. "Yeah, I suppose the events of that day were significant in more ways than one…"

"Petrie proved himself braver than all of us that day by breaking tradition and doing his own thing. I still remember Pitch turning back at my brother and screeching at him, _'Petrie, stop that!'_ —" Gryphon made the effort to imitate the voice of his eldest sister, "—once he retook his position after his little stunt. If I wasn't so terrified that he'd slam into us and cause us to plunge into a spiral again, I would've legitimately laughed at her expense."

"Go on…" Littlefoot prodded when he saw Gryphon struggling to get the next words out.

"Nevertheless, I was the first to break formation after Petrie. And let me tell you… it felt invigorating!" Gryphon smiled for what seemed like the first time since the conversation started. "But we're getting off-topic. Long story short, I stopped teasing him as much after that day, and over time I slowly cracked away at Petrie and begun to learn bits and pieces of him. I still do tease him on occasion, admittedly, but I've been closer to my brother since the Day of the Flyers."

Littlefoot looked at the khaki flyer in wonder. "Petrie never told us about you. He made it sound as though all of his siblings were bad."

"Well, one ripe sweet bubble can't save a shrub of rotten ones," Gryphon quoted. "But you see my point here, right? Me learning more about Petrie is exactly why I know that he often hides his emotions deep inside him." The youngling grimaced, his face plummeting into one of misery. "That's why I'm downright terrified that Petrie went and did something rash! I have to find him! Look, I even resorted to asking Guido for air support when I chanced upon him mid-flight. I'm at my wit's end here!"

"Guido?" Cera raised a brow at the mention of the teal glider's name. "Man, you're desperate."

Before Cera could say another word, Gryphon ran forward and placed his face to her frill.

"I know that my brother's closer to you guys compared to us, so I'm swallowing my pride as a flyer and begging you two right now! You've gotta help us find Petrie!"

"Hey, doofus!" Cera pushed Gryphon off, taking care not to injure him by using her horn. "Are you trying to make fun of us? That's what we've been busy doing for the entire day so far!"

Gryphon's sigh of relief was audible. "Oh, thank you. Thank you so much! We need all the help we can get, and—"

"Hey, Gryphon!" A loutish voice cut in, "Quit slacking off down there! The sooner we find our loser brother, the sooner Mom can call this dumb search off!"

Gryphon cast a dark look upwards, glaring at the rosy-brown flyer circling high above. Under the Bright Circle the more subdued saturation and tone of the airborne flyer's coloration gave him a noticeably grayish hue. "Gyro…" Gryphon warned, his voice lowering.

"Let's put on a show for Mom's sake, brother," Gyro boomed from above, his deep voice lowering to a snarl. "When the Bright Circle goes down and Petrie's still missing, I'll get Mom to finally turn the search over to the other grownups by spinning up some explanation about why Petrie felt some dumb need to prove himself or something and how it's futile to go looking for him like this. In other words, it's just another one of Petrie's little play adventures, only this time without his little friends hanging alongside him!" he mocked with a sneer visible even to those on the ground.

Littlefoot widened his eyes when he heard the flyer above cackling at his own joke. Side-eyeing Cera, he saw that the threehorn wasn't looking too pleased either with the insinuation regarding their bond with Petrie or their adventures. "Why, I ought to…" she hissed.

"Cera!" Littlefoot hushed, even though he was tempted to give the flyer a talking-to himself.

Gyro's voice then turned shifty, slowing his words down to incite a sense of suspense as he lowered his altitude to gaze at his younger brother. "But in order for Mom to buy that excuse, I need to show her that all of us did our best to try and find Petrie, and that obviously won't work if you're plainly messing around." Without any warning, his soft voice abruptly transformed into a yell. "So get your beak up here already, Gryphon! I don't want to waste any more time looking for Petrie after today, and you're not going to blow this chance for the rest of us to squirm our way out of the next search!"

"I suppose it's time for me to go," Gryphon murmured to them, "I hope you find Petrie." His face turning impassive, he gave Littlefoot and Cera a forlorn wave before launching himself skywards and joining his brother.

Cera watched them go before turning to Littlefoot. "So, how many treestars do you wanna bet on that guy being the unkind sibling that Petrie's always complaining about?"

"I'm not betting, Cera!"

There were many things Littlefoot knew about Petrie, and one of them was that he didn't have a very pleasant home life. The flyer had privately confided to him in the past that he often felt beleaguered and oppressed by his siblings, although frankly the longneck didn't need Petrie to tell him that firsthand for him to figure it out for himself. In fact, the juxtaposition between Petrie's behavior around his kin and around his friends was why he had a propensity of sticking with the gang, as in many ways Petrie found himself clicking with them more than his very own brothers and sisters.

"Well, no matter what, Petrie's brother is right. We better help out as best as we can," Littlefoot said at last, trudging off and beckoning Cera to follow. "We should go find Chomper and Ruby as well. They might have a better idea as to what's going on…"

"Yeah, except we should have done that ages ago!" Cera charged forward, making haste as she helmed the front. "Let's just go get Spike and head off to find the others, wherever they are. This whole day stinks, and I want it to be over already!"

With an exhausted sigh, Littlefoot followed behind an impatient Cera, finding that he wholeheartedly agreed with the threehorn on this point.

This awful, dreary day had not started well at all.

And from the looks of things, it wasn't going to be picking up anytime soon.

* * *

"Congrats on the win, sir!" A short pause then ensued before a follow-up to the compliment was added as a hasty postscript. "Of course, it _was_ inevitable that you would come out victorious."

If Ferris felt any conceitedness at all from Bartley's lavish praises, he didn't show it. He was reticent, wringing his hands and flinging off excess water still clinging onto his body even after he had exited the stream.

…or at least, he had _tried_ to keep that modest façade up before looking into his assistant's eyes and finding that just one knowing glance from Bartley was more than enough to cause his stony exterior to crack faster than a wave crashing down onto the shore.

"To be honest, Bartley…" Ferris grimaced, his body's stiff posture and overall countenance showing slight hints of vulnerability, "…the race scared me. I felt coerced into making it a competition to prove myself. Even when Amaryl counted down, I was a nervous wreck inside, legitimately frightened that he'd be better than me and that I would have been forced to eat my tail for the second time in a row… hey, it's not funny!"

Bartley immediately shifted back to attention, his humored expression disappearing in an instant. "My apologies, sir. It's just—"

"I know," Ferris cut in, his eyes shining with a deadly glint that made it clear that he didn't want to hear another word out of Bartley's beak. "Pops won't ever let me live down the fact that some 'half-starved dimwit bimbo'—" the annoyed swimmer made sure to highlight the air quotes using his hands, "—managed to beat me in a one-on-one race. Stupid, stupid Jovi! I was hounded for that loss by Pops for almost an entire Night Circle cycle! Give me a break… it's not like I always have to be the incumbent pinnacle of swimmers all the time!"

The gray swimmer simply nodded in acknowledgement, knowing that the incident in question was a sore spot for Ferris. Understandably, Bartley didn't want to incite his superior's anger. Since he didn't reply, the clearing soon become near silent, with the only notable exception being the dissonant sounds made by the ebb and flow of the swift-flowing river surging besides them.

After enough time had elapsed that the two swimmers became noticeably aware of its sluggish passage, waiting for Paddy to show up eventually became unbearable for them. Ferris crushing the blades of grass under his heel while peering back towards the stream. "Alright, I'm quickly losing patience. What's taking Paddy so long?" he muttered to himself, gnarling impatiently at the churning fast water sweeping through the river. The amount of time that had elapsed since he had consciously been waiting for Paddy had definitely crossed his threshold, "He should have been here by now!"

"I agree, sir," Bartley piped in, raising his hand in agreement. "Maybe he's a sore loser and simply made a U-turn to quit when he saw that there was no chance of him catching up and winning the race with the ridiculous headstart you have over him?" he proposed, before wincing and giving a nonchalant shrug when he saw Ferris' unconvinced face.

Ferris clicked his beak at his subordinate. "I highly doubt that. There's no way to swim against the current at this speed," he pointed up, gesturing at the stream to prove his point. "Paddy can't turn back, he'd have to swim to shore, and if he does so Jovi and Ducky would disqualify him the very instant they catch him being out of the fast water."

"Um… well, it was just an idea…" Bartley griped. Despite the sound reasoning Ferris made when disproving his hypothesis, the prompt dismissal of his suggestion as dreck resonated hard within the gray swimmer, disheartening him to the point where he couldn't even mask his disappointment from Ferris.

Before either of the swimmers could reinvigorate the awkward conversation, a snooty voice coming from above penetrated their personal space.

"Hey, hello? I'm talking to you!"

The entrant to the conversation was nowhere near as couth as Bartley, the brash voice immediately drawing Ferris' attention. The pale green swimmer placed an arm by his waist, lazily glancing up to see that the one who had butted into their tranquil conversation was a female turquoise flyer, her face spruced with an expression of apathy.

"Hm… I wasn't expecting a flyer. Where did you come from?" Ferris drawled, mentally analyzing her as he spoke. Though he refused to admit it, the flyer's sudden appearance had startled him, catching him flat-taloned. _Get a hold of yourself, Ferris! If this was the Mysterious Beyond and that was a sharpbeak, you would have been in hot water! Geez, Pops would have your head if he sees you getting caught off guard like that!_

"Well, where do you think? From the air, doofus!" she fired back without mercy, rolling her eyes before glaring at the two swimmers with an annoyed disposition. She opened her beak wide open, before closing it contemplatively. "Ah… I wanted to say more, but forget it. There's no time for that. Look, you two are swimmers, right?"

Although Bartley held Ferris' hand to try and mediate things, it didn't stop an irritated Ferris from snapping back at the roguish flyer. "Excuse me? Are you blind? Have you never seen a swimmer before in your life?"

"Oh, come on! That was rhetorical, moron! Don't you try and play punk with me! Roll here is a master of comebacks!" she bragged brazenly before catching herself going off topic again. "Alright, serious talk. Can you see my brother circling around something over there?" Roll asked as her eyes wavered over to the side.

Taking that as his cue, Ferris squinted his eyes and peered into the distance, spotting a dark midnight-blue speck circling the air in the distance.

"We caught someone flailing about in the fast water back there," Roll said. "My brother is circling where the victim is so that any bystanders can come to help, and Pitch and I went out to search for swimmers to—"

"Hold up!" Ferris forcefully interjected, a crept of worry seeping into his voice as he noted something peculiar about the location of the blue flyer circling from afar. "A swimmer who is flailing about in the river… in that direction… no, no, no! It's gotta be Paddy!"

Bartley cringed visibly. "Ohhh… this is definitely not good."

At this point Roll didn't even need to goad the two swimmers into helping her. The trepidation in both their eyes made it apparent that they were going to intervene without her needing to say a single word more.

Once the true scope of the unfolding disaster became apparent, Ferris sucked in a deep breath through his beak, the humid air filling his lungs. "Gah! That idiot's upstream! I can't swim effectively that way, not against this torrential current," Ferris drummed his temple, gnashing his teeth together before snapping his head towards the flyer and dishing out a surly order.

"Hey! Roll, right? Lead me there, pronto! I'm getting to Paddy on foot!"

"You're not the boss of me!" Roll spat, but relented nonetheless. "Get a move on! At the rate we're going, that swimmer would have already ended up in the Great Beyond!"

Ferris angrily waved his fist at her. "Who do you think is at fault for that, huh? Wishy-washy flyer, you couldn't stop beating about the treestar bush!"

"Just shut your beak and follow me already!"

Wordlessly, the two swimmers complied.

Heading upstream in a frenzy, neither of the three were able to hear the sound of footsteps which signified that there were others following them in pursuit.

* * *

As he slowly fluttered open his eyes, feeling the harsh glare of the Bright Circle assaulting his visual senses, Petrie's addled mind could only come up with one coherent conclusion.

 _Ugh… me head spinning. So bright… Petrie be in… Great Beyond? Is me Dad here?_

As his vision began to clear, it slowly emerged that he was not quite in the Great Beyond. Once it hit him that his immediate surroundings seemed familiar, his eyes shot wide open when he recalled that the exact same thing had happened to him earlier today.

To Petrie's surprise, he wasn't a bloated corpse at the bottom of the river. Instead, he was lying face-up, his body spreadeagled on a grassy outcrop.

His swimmer body. It was definitely a downer to wake up to the dark-gray, almost black skin which plagued him like a curse.

"Oh, thank goodness! You are awake! You are, you are!"

Even with his brain in a complete haze, Petrie was able to piece together who was talking to him. "D-Du… Ducky?" he mumbled, his speech slurred as he tried to turn his head towards the direction of the voice.

"You should not move so much," Ducky fretted, the swimmer suddenly appearing from above and enveloping most of his peripheral vision as a result. "You almost drowned-ed. You did, you did…"

As things slowly began to fall into place, Petrie felt the tension in his body slacken and turn into unequivocal bliss. He could kiss the ground… and frankly, he just might.

"I was so afraid for you. I was, I was!" Ducky continued on, "If I did not come and save you, you would not be here right now, oh, no, no, no!"

"You… save… me?" Petrie managed to say, flabbergasted.

Ducky beamed happily. "Yep, yep, yep! I did, I did!"

Of course! Fortune had granted him a reprieve! Ducky and Jovi had been walking along the length of the river, hadn't they? This meant that Jovi's suggestion to patrol the riverbank had serendipitously managed to save his life as a result, since Petrie ended up having bystanders to witness his plight and eventually come to his rescue when he was in dire straits.

It was a glimmer of hope that he never realized the existence of while he had been gasping for air.

Thanking the Bright Circle for the much-deserved upturn in luck, Petrie managed to get back on his two shaky feet, staggering a grand total of two steps before keeling over and falling back on his knees. His slumped body was leaning forward, arched in a distinct curve and quivering uncontrollably due to a mixture of the fear he'd felt and the piercing coldness of the water.

"Paddy! What are you doing!?" Ducky scurried over to him, "A-Are you okay? You should not be standing up! Nope, nope, nope!"

As he struggled to regain his footing, he then noticed a catatonic Jovi rather close to where he was. The swimmer stood rooted to the ground, yellow eyes glazed over as though he'd seen an apparition. He had gone so stiff that to an outside observer, it was almost as though he had become an inanimate rock.

Pointedly ignoring Ducky's protests, he limped his way towards the stunned swimmer and profusely shook a confused Jovi's hand. "Oh, thank you! You save m… my life!" he spluttered, his words coming out in an almost incoherent slew as the navigator stared back at Petrie with a bewildered expression.

Jovi really did save him, if in a roundabout way. It was that chance meeting while he had been studying the river on his own accord and an impromptu decision to walk the length of the river with Ducky that allowed his friend to see him in peril.

When it became clear that Jovi was so frozen in shock that he was unable to respond in a meaningful way, Petrie let go of Jovi and found himself immediately being ambushed by Ducky, who placed her arms around him in a tight embrace, the gesture catching him completely off guard.

"You are so very reckless! You are, you are! I will not let you go until you promise to sit down and rest quietly, Paddy! I am telling you to rest but instead you are acting like Cera when Cera is not happy. And Cera is a threehorn, so she does not tend to be happy very often, nope, nope, nope…"

Despite happening due to rather unusual circumstances—Ducky doing it for his safety—Petrie found himself melting into Ducky's comforting hug regardless, savoring the intimacy of his physical contact with his friend after surviving his near brush with death. Though the two had hugged each other before, this was the closest thing to an embrace he could get out of Ducky while in this swimmer body.

Just a reminder of the life he was soon going to get back.

With the race out of the way, Petrie could vanish and wait things out just like he wanted to from the start, and provided Vekal was honest—which he doubted despite Vekal's claims of being a flyer of integrity, but he really had nothing else left to lose by this point—Petrie could get him to reverse the stone's effects and become a flyer again.

Then, as if fate could hear his thoughts, reality hit him in the face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… would you look at that? You've finally managed to regain consciousness! Hey, swimmer! Are you okay, lad? You were under the surface for so long that I almost thought we lost you!"

Breaking himself free from Ducky's hold, Petrie had to choke back a rasp when he realized that he _recognized_ that voice. Slowly turning to face the speaker, his fears were confirmed.

Standing there by the riverside with a solicitous look on his face was his older brother, Yaw.

Yaw was of a distinct midnight blue shade, the lanky flyer having inherited his wing color from their mother Skylar. He was also relatively high on Petrie's list of dinosaurs that he didn't want to see today.

To be fair, while Yaw could be malicious alongside the others when his siblings ganged up on him, Petrie would still take his eldest brother over Gyro or Roll any day. Those two colluding together as a duo to take charge of ridiculing him was literally the worst. Together, they were collectively the bane of his existence, with Roll's perpetual sassiness supplementing Gyro's masochism in a concoction which guaranteed that Petrie would question himself on why he hadn't kicked himself out of the nest instead of having to endure their slander.

Still, to see that his brother was in the vicinity was an egregious tonal shift. Petrie had just been thinking about his family back when he thought that it was the end, and here they were now, physically here in reality, even if it was only one of them.

For a brief moment the two merely looked at each other, with Yaw eventually breaking visual first and choosing to look at the sloshing river with an aggravated expression.

"Dammit, I'm not brave enough!" Yaw hissed to himself, the flyer insipidly pacing about with a hunched posture, "Oh sure, Guido and Petrie might be able to throw caution to the wind and save Tricia from drowning, but you… you on the other hand just _had to_ falter and let your fear of getting swept away by the fast water swamp your nerves when thrust into the exact same situation as them!"

Given his tendency to do the same in speech, it took Petrie a while to realize that Yaw was demeaning himself in third-person. But since it came as the result of a frustrated rant, perhaps some part of Yaw's consciousness indirectly hoped to dissociate himself from his own criticism.

"When Petrie… _Petrie_ , of all flyers, can beat you in a life-threatening emergency, you really have to reevaluate your life. Man, oh man, it means that you're falling short of expectations. It's going to be the Time of Great Growing, and if I can't even trounce against Petrie in something that's as elementary as this, then I'm practically doomed to spend the rest of my life as a lonely bachelor!"

Cripes, that was harsh. It hadn't escaped Petrie's notice that being the eldest male and the second-eldest child of the nest made his other siblings build up ridiculous expectations for Yaw in recent times. Looking almost like Mom because of his dazzling blue shade didn't help matters there, instead fueling the comparison further. Understandably, his brother had become rather snappy as of late thanks to the additional stress… since in all honesty, Yaw's skinny frame had resulted in him being below average in flying.

If only he hadn't tried to cope with it by taking things out on Petrie more often.

"Oh, there she is!" Yaw finally halted his tirade, his eyes narrowing as he focused on a specific point on the horizon. "Took her long enough! I can't believe that Roll found a swimmer before Pitch did. That blowhard probably wanted to prove a point…"

 _Roll? Oh, please, no be her…_

Petrie turned to look at where Yaw was facing and felt his heart sink completely.

His sister Roll had a turquoise color that was recognizable even from afar, so he could see her lazily headed his way.

Who else had a recognizable color and was also strutting in his direction? The very pale-green Ferris, of course. Because things were going _perfectly swell_ today.

To his consternation, Petrie realized that though he had managed to cheat death once more, he still had to deal with the ensuing fallout before he was in the clear.

And from the looks of things, that confrontation was shaping itself up to be as nasty as a valley meeting with an angry Mr. Threehorn.

Petrie began to feel the onset of hyperventilation, the claustrophobic tension skyrocketing thanks to the introduction of his unruly siblings. Having them join the foray and compound onto the rapidly growing number of dinosaurs surrounding him really hit home on just how massive of an incident his near-drowning ordeal really was.

The enormity of it all chilled Petrie right down to the bone. Eyes cautiously darting back and forth, he made a mental note of the assembly of swimmers and flyers quickly moving in to encircle and entrap him at what was going to be the soon-to-be rendezvous point.

His older brother and sister, Yaw and Roll…

From the swimmer herd was Ferris, Bartley, and Jovi…

And most importantly of all, there was Ducky, his friend musingly scrutinizing him with a sober expression, her cerulean eyes shimmering with something Petrie couldn't decipher.

What a disaster… what a total and complete mess this had become. The mere thought of this many onlookers dissecting and tearing apart the explanation that they would inevitably demand from him turned Petrie's already shattered nerves into mush. Even if Vekal hadn't decreed that Petrie wasn't to reveal himself till the night closed in or face dire consequences, Petrie would have fiercely protected his secret regardless now that his siblings were in the picture.

Simply visualizing the smug expressions that would be plastered on Gyro and Roll's faces in particular should they ever learn of this debacle was enough of a deterrent for Petrie to clamp his beak shut and staunchly conceal the truth. He was already vulnerable enough as a swimmer who knew zilch about swimming. The frightful idea of having his siblings find out and summarily oppressing his new form would only be rivalled by the fact that Vekal would relinquish the deal once they do and use the bet's escape clause to leave Petrie at the mercy of the scornful jeers from his maligned brothers and sisters while Petrie himself remained trapped in the helpless form of a swimmer for all eternity.

The only thing that could possibly be worse than being stuck as a swimmer for the rest of his life was to have his siblings taunt him for being one in that inordinately lengthy span of time. He could barely survive half a day in a foreign body… Petrie was already dreading the very idea of being stuck in a cyclical loop of fear and despair, barely subsisting day after day while being forced to learn how to reshape his life around that of a swimmer's.

Once Petrie managed to contextualize just how dire an outlook like that would be, he wanted nothing more than to escape this increasingly bleak situation by fleeing to the skies above and leaving the remnants of this wretched day all behind him.

A shame that with a significant lack of wings, that option wasn't open to him.

Petrie could feel time itself slowing to a complete crawl when he warily locked eyes with the approaching trio of Bartley, Ferris, and Roll. Either his perception of time was actively being warped or the truth was that they were actually taking an eternity to get to where he was standing.

Curiously, it turned out that he wasn't the only one to think that. Without any forewarning, his brother strode forward and crankily yelled at the approaching dinosaurs. "You are late, Roll! What took you so long, sis?" Yaw uttered with contempt, actively aghast at the speed the swimmers took to get to the spot where he was standing alongside the three swimmers. "I would have had blood on my wings if there weren't two other swimmers heading my way who managed to spot that drowning swimmer and save him before you got here!"

"It is precisely as you said, flyer." Ferris raised his voice to answer Yaw, his brutish demeanor palpable even from the distance. "The course of this river is mostly straight, so with an unobstructed view I was able to see Paddy being rescued from afar in the midst of rushing here and quickly realized that there was no further need to expend any of my energy sprinting." Ferris then proceeded to glance up, a mild amused expression discernible to Yaw as the young swimmer finally reached a distance where one could make out his facial features. "Even your sister agrees with me, see?"

Yaw growled when he saw Roll with a cocky smirk on her face, clearly satisfied with Ferris backing her up. Petrie, for the most part, actively chose to ignore their skirmish and tried to focus his mind on the oncoming crisis.

He was not looking forward to another verbal spar with Ferris. Not at all.

Jovi had not been kidding when he referred to Ferris as a stubborn swimmer. He had casually talked down to Cera, and Petrie had seen him go toe-to-toe with Ducky earlier when he took an impartial stand of letting the race continue in spite of Ducky's insistence.

That wasn't even mentioning that he had reacted abysmally when Ferris had called him out on the swimmer herd lie. Back then, Petrie had been saved from a bulk of the questioning by the appearance of Amaryl, Ferris' sister, who had distracted Ferris right when he was going in for the kill. However, this was shaping up to be an even harsher interrogation, and it didn't seem like he was going to get lucky twice.

Petrie mentally prepared himself for the inevitable confrontation when he saw Ferris stopping short from their side just as the two groups were about to congregate, an expression of visceral rage now clearly defined on the pale-green swimmer's face.

"Anyway, you've got some explaining to do, mister! What the blazes was that!?"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Did anyone get the dual meaning of the chapter title? Clever, hm? :)

This chapter plays out like an interlude "calm before the storm" chapter, if you can even call it that, it gets rather intense. I don't think anyone really believed I was going to kill Petrie off this early on, but I did enjoy writing the myriad of perspectives on Petrie's disappearance from different angles — it helps define just how personal things get for those close to Petrie even though they aren't directly afflicted by Vekal's psychological game.

Of note in this chapter are Petrie's siblings, and since a guest review mentioned it I should bring this up — I didn't give all of Petrie's clutch mates a name in Chapter 4 just for show. Since I didn't elaborate then, Pitch, Yaw, and Roll are the three main aircraft principal axes, Gyro is based off the gyroscopic instrument, and Gryphon is another term for griffin. I do hope to develop them and make them a bit more distinct in personality rather than their visuals. All of their color schemes are based off the various different hues they have in _The Great Day of the Flyers_ , so you can loosely link them by their wing color and a few lines that they speak in XII.

Climax of the whole race debacle will play out in the next one. This story arc has unfortunately dragged out for longer than I'd have liked—*cough* blame the vivid descriptions—so I hope to wrap it up soon. As more and more familiar dinosaurs converge on the scene, critical mass will soon be reached…

…

 **Anagnos:** The consequences of the bet were eventually going to come to a head. You and the others have caught on that larger events have been playing out in the works, and when one looks at things from a bigger perspective, the skirmish between Vekal and Petrie does seem rather insignificant in comparison.

 **DiddyKF1:** Don't worry… despite how skewed the nice/cruel ratio is right now with characters like Ferris and co., I'll balance it out soon enough. Given how bad Petrie's luck is, it is quite fortuitous that most around him are unable to make the outlandish leap of logic it would take to make the connection between Paddy to his flyer self… for now, at least. And while Vekal himself wasn't named for buildup and suspense in the first three chapters of the story, there is a different reason as to why I haven't name-dropped the flyer who'd been observing Petrie last chapter.

 **Keijo6:** I'm happy that you are a fan of the emotional rollercoaster that Petrie underwent in the last chapter. Far too often a story rushes into further plot points without giving the characters in question time to react and reflect on a shift in circumstances. Given how jarring an event like this should be to Petrie, I'd rather not gloss over it, even if like you said, the story's pacing does come off as a little sluggish as a result of this choice.

 **Rhombus:** Glad to see that I was able to subvert expectations with Petrie's choice — unorthodox as it seems, it is very Petrie-like to go with the option that seemingly has the least risk to it. Yeah, the tension's steadily been racking up these past few chapters, and although it's past the crescendo Petrie isn't quite out of the woods yet.

 **Guest:** I understand where you're coming from, and while you might be hungry for conflict—hah, as if there isn't any right now—but as I've said above, I already named all of Petrie's siblings in this fic's continuity during Chapter 4, which predates the release of Diddy's _Gone Too Far_ , else I might have been open to using Donnie and Terra. However, that isn't to say that the trope of Petrie having terrible siblings as seen in XII and fanworks won't be happening here. As seen in this very chapter, the archetype can still be recycled even with differing names and personalities… :p

 **lionkingfactsguy3:** Nice to know that you're a fan! I wrote this fic in the first place to place more focus on swimmers and flyers, who I found generally lacking when compared to the vast majority of stories focusing on the Gang in general, longnecks herds, threehorn herds, and fast runners—this trend is a more recent one—with only a couple of exceptions.

…

With a crowd building up and Petrie's siblings now being unknowing spectators to their younger brother's rapidly deteriorating situation… yeah, things aren't good. :P


	9. Swift or Slow?

**Chapter 9: Swift or Slow?**

"So, has Ferris been bothering you today?"

To a contemplative Ducky who was still musing pensively about the unfairness of the whole situation after she had ended up being tasked with joint patrol duty, Jovi's query appeared to have come out of complete nowhere.

Until Jovi spoke up, the two hadrosaurs had been frolicking their way along the riverside and admiring the scenery in silence. But now the question has shattered the ambience, causing Ducky to ponder over it as she strolled along the grassy plains. After much deliberation, Ducky decided that it was better to suppress her more aggressive thoughts about Ferris and opted to give Jovi a response that was significantly more neutral by focusing on some of the more pronounced positive aspects that Ferris had displayed.

"Well…" Ducky bit her lip, carefully rolling her words in her mouth as she chose them carefully. She didn't want to pour her soul out to someone who she wasn't quite as close to compared to her friends, but she also didn't want her response to come off as too disingenuous when she could see that Jovi meant well. "…I suppose that Ferris is an okay swimmer. He does look rather nice, and he tries to be nice to me too… he does, he does. Well, I can see that he is not a mean bully to others most of the time, so I guess that he is overall an alright swimmer…"

After an indecisive shrug, Ducky shook her head dejectedly, deciding that she'd had quite enough of stating the swimmer's positives. "Alright… the issue I have with Ferris is that he is very pushy. He does not want to take 'no' as an answer no matter what, oh, no, no, no." Inwardly apologizing to Cera, Ducky proceeded to make the comparison using the threehorn as a benchmark. "He kind of acts like Cera whenever she gets upset, he does, he does."

The rhythmic and distinct noise that was made from a singular pair of feet shuffling along the ground suddenly dissipated after Ducky had concisely put her answer across. Quickly discerning that Jovi had abruptly stopped walking alongside her after he heard her response, Ducky whirled back towards the swimmer, wondering if she had inadvertently been too blunt and unintentionally said something far too outrageous while expressing her summary of Ferris.

She quickly got her answer, though not quite in the manner that she had been expecting. When Ducky made eye contact with Jovi, she was wholly unprepared and completely caught off guard by the hardness in his yellow eyes. For a swimmer who had acted very much like Petrie in meekness and demeanor before now, such a stark shift in behavior was disconcerting.

"You know…" Jovi glanced at her shrewdly, "…I think you should stop lying to yourself, Ducky."

Ducky cocked her head at Jovi, idly shifting one foot behind the other at his accusation. She felt her skin bristling, feeling uncomfortable at the sudden harsh tone that his voice took. How had things gone abruptly from a casual friendly walk to such a serious conversation out of the blue? She didn't like the adverse swerve in direction their talk had taken… nope, nope, nope. "W-whatever do you mean by that?" she found herself stuttering a denial, "I am not lying to you… oh, no, no, no!"

Jovi let out a hearty laugh at Ducky's futile attempt of deflection. "Hahahah! That's rich! That might be the single worst attempt of a lie I've seen since… heh, never mind about that." Wiping his eyes as he seemingly lost his train of thought, Jovi quickly recovered and shot Ducky an all-too-knowing smile. "No offense, but even if your wavering tone in your reply wasn't a dead giveaway, I've already managed to glean a fair bit of your thoughts and impressions with regards to Ferris based on how you were acting around him earlier. You readily said yes to coming along with me when I gave you an out, didn't you?" he grinned, triumphantly tapping his temple with a finger.

"Well, uh, I…" Ducky trailed off, the normally talkative swimmer finding herself at a loss for words at Jovi's rebuttal.

"Come on, there's no need to be so reserved when talking about Ferris, especially not when your words clearly don't match up with your actions. Unlike me, you aren't part of our herd, so you have no reason to save his face by suppressing your real thoughts. You have complete freedom to sling mud at Ferris and tarnish his reputation all you want without any fear of repercussions. Isn't that just great?"

Jovi gently placed an arm on Ducky's shoulder. "Besides, I can see your actual thoughts in your eyes. When I walked over to the river right when the fast water race was about to start, I got a good look at you. And frankly, the disapproving posture you sported and the sense of utter frustration it conveyed…" he paused, gazing at Ducky cryptically, "…it really speaks volumes about your perception of Ferris. Namely, that it is not as optimistic of an outlook as you portray it to be."

Giving time for the weight of his words to sink in, Jovi gazed at Ducky gently, his eyes sanguine and mellow. "My point is, as someone who trekked across the Mysterious Beyond many times over until I landed a role as the herd navigator who others can count on and rely for directions, I've slowly managed to attain the rather nifty skill of being able to gauge others solely by their body language." He side-eyed the rushing river, sighing forlornly. "And many Cold Times of intuition now tell me that I made no mistake in deciphering your true feelings regarding Ferris… this is a very open-and-shut case in my eyes."

Ducky avoided eye contact, afraid that she would give something she didn't mean to away under Jovi's observant eye. Looking at her toes as she fidgeted while trying to formulate the best response to make a rebuttal against Jovi's candid claim, she eventually settled with a non-committal reply. "I do not like being mean to others. That is why I cannot brush Ferris away even though I do not feel the same way as him, oh, no, no, no!"

The issue was that she didn't know whether she _did_ feel the same. And judging from the skeptical expression that was on Jovi's face after he heard her poor attempt of an excuse, the other swimmer clearly thought the same way too.

A bedtime conversation she had with Spike under the stars the previous night sprang to mind. Like Ducky had confided to her brother then, she wasn't completely willing to push Ferris away despite his numerous flaws because a warm fuzzy part of her felt thrilled by hearing his earnest compliments. Even though his character was more nuanced and down-to-earth when she had caught a more frustrated version of him today, Ferris was undeniably still a suave swimmer when it came to showering her with praises.

However, where Ducky faltered was when it came down to objectively weighing the pros and cons to decide on whether Ferris was a good fit for her. Was a swimmer of his caliber someone who she wanted to be with for the rest of her life?

On one hand, he really wasn't all that bad. After dealing with dinosaurs who were clearly much more malevolent in nature and actually tried to do harm to her and her friends, Ferris was at best an annoyance when graded on that relative scale… sort of like Rhett when Ali's herd had come-ed back to the valley, yep, yep, yep. And if she were to be honest, Ferris wasn't that bad when it came down to his appearance either. Could she really invalidate all the blatantly obvious hints of affection that he openly displayed towards her? It would be a win-win situation for her if she recuperated his feelings, wouldn't it? Relationship-wise, she would be set for life.

But on the flip side, Ferris had his fair share of issues as well. The swimmer had been passively dismissive of her friends, contemptuously acting as though he was above them the day before. It wasn't a one-off, too… he had been condescending to Paddy just because he wasn't in his herd today as well—she would have to question Paddy about why he'd said otherwise later—which was exactly what had led to her clashing heads with Ferris in the first place.

Right then and there, Ducky resolved that she would not feel the same way about Ferris by quashing any passionate feelings she experienced towards him unless the pompous swimmer made some drastic changes to his attitude. Because if there was something which Ducky could not stand, this was it. Although she'd felt uncomfortable when Ferris had come onto her too strongly, this right here was the real breaking point for Ducky, the part that frustrated her the most about Ferris.

 _I do not like bullies who act like they are big and mighty because they think they are better-er than everyone else!_

She would _not_ be associated with someone who insulted her friendships and treated others around him like dirt. It would not be a sustainable relationship in the long run. Nope, nope, nope! Shaking her head decidedly, Ducky made firm on her choice of maintaining her stand by looking Jovi firm in the eye.

But to her exasperation, Jovi gave a nonverbal reply by returning her stare in jest. She blinked her eyes and frowned at him. Either Jovi didn't get the memo from the fervor expression that was in her eyes, or he still didn't believe her if he did. Whatever the case, Ducky mentally prepared herself for a harsh interrogation.

Anticipating a response like that was why Jovi's next words threw her in for a loop. "Look, I know this is awkward to ask…" he averted his eyes, reverting to his meeker persona as he fiddled with his fingers before sucking in a deep breath. "…but how old are you, Ducky?"

Puzzled by the sudden switch of topics but thankful for the reprieve, Ducky snatched the opportunity to escape talking about Ferris and answered Jovi readily. "I am ten Cold Times old! I am, I am!" she nodded along with every word. "My tenth hatch day was earlier in the Warm Time, yep, yep, yep!"

"Am I to presume you hatched over ten Cold Times ago, Ducky?" Upon spotting the wry smile on Jovi's face at her response, it slowly dawned on her that she'd just made a grave error of judgement.

Sure enough, to add on to Ducky's compounding headache, Jovi deftly made use of her age in order to bolster his point. "It's the Time of Great Growing at play here. It starts to take effect around one's ninth or tenth star day, and it goes without saying that when it comes, it arrives as jarringly like a forceful galestorm, including the instincts and behavioral changes that comes together with it in one nasty package."

The connotation and implications of what Jovi was saying were clear as day even for Ducky. As a matter of fact, his curt and direct words caused the swimmer to harken back to a recent memory — a conversation that had involved her mother when she and her clutch mates had turned ten barely a Night Circle cycle ago.

* * *

"Ugh… I am so very tired. I am, I am…"

Letting a yawn loose while around others tended to have a catalytic effect in a group setting, as the instigator would usually start a chain effect of eliciting multiple subsequent yawns after they had concluded theirs.

Case in point — Ducky opening her beak to let out an exhausted yawn was almost immediately followed up by three separate yawns from her equally tired siblings.

"Oh no! I am sorry for yawning, guys," Ducky blurted an apology when she heard the weary yawns from her sides induced via a cause-and-effect loop that resulted in a collective batch of yawns reverberating across the entire sleeping area. After much of the fresh morning air has been filched into the beaks of the tired swimmers, Ducky groggily rubbed her tired eyes as she sat down on her haunches. "I am, I am…" she added, the stirring swimmer blinking her blue eyes to get herself ready for the day ahead.

…her big day. For today wasn't just any ordinary day for Ducky and her three closest siblings, nope, nope, nope! In fact, there was a good reason as to why she had wandered away from a snoozing Spike for once to mingle with her siblings.

It was the tenth anniversary of their hatching.

Ducky looked up at the stars, seeing a specific cluster of them twinkling brighter than usual upon the twilight backdrop. One's tenth star day was a day of legend, a momentous occasion that had been hyped up by… well, pretty much everyone. Her friends, her family, Mr. Thicknose, and even some relative strangers frolicking around the valley who knew Ducky well… literally everyone had made preparations to give their congratulations to her for this day.

Even Cera, who had been mildly upset to learn that Ducky was genuinely older than her by exact hatch day—which finally put that argument from one of their earlier adventures many Cold Times ago to rest—didn't put a damper on the mood with a chiding remark and instead wished her friend well before leaving for home the previous night. Besides the probable explanation of her mellowing out with age, it was likely that Cera had no reason to continue insisting on being the oldest ever since the gang had befriended Ruby, as the fast runner was very clearly older than the rest of them. Celebrating Ruby's _twelfth_ star day in the valley probably shut Cera up rather quickly.

"I am so very happy, yes indeed. As of today morning, I am ten Cold Times old! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky felt a sense of pride swell within her as she repeated that fact to herself, the swimmer smiling from ear to ear while staring up at the dark sky. The Bright Circle hadn't risen yet, but that didn't stop her and her siblings from being ecstatic at the thought.

On average, swimmers didn't tend to have a high life expectancy, especially when they were not in a herd comprising of their own kind that would offer them protection through large numbers. Since her parents had lived in isolation from other swimmers until the Great Earthshake forced their hand, only half of her mother's original nest of eight ended up living to see the fabled paradise that was the Great Valley. Had Ducky not gotten curious over a crying Littlefoot while diving in shallow water and joined up with him after being separated from her family, it was likely that she might not have made it too.

As such, a swimmer hatchling surviving till they reached the age of ten usually called for a great celebration, as it meant that they were fortunate enough to successfully beat the odds, odds that were stacked against them due to the many perilous dangers that swimmers often faced when dealing with an environment extremely hostile to them when they were out of their aquatic element.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you four are up early today, should I?"

The four swimmers turned towards the tender voice, seeing their mother lumbering towards them with large strides.

"While it's true that the early flyer gets the freshest treestars, I'm not sure if there's a swimmer equivalent for that proverb." Shoal cooed at her eldest daughter with a knowing smile as she bent down and nuzzled Ducky, who recuperated with a playful giggle of her own. "Now, I know that you in particular are up early because you would want to spend the day with your friends. You were probably too restless to even catch a wink of sleep, weren't you, my not-so-little Ducky?"

Rewarded with an affirmative "yes, mama" from a smiling Ducky, a satisfied Shoal proceeded to focus her attention on the other three. "As for the rest of you, you usually sleep in," she observed astutely. "To be up as early as your elder sister… you lot are certainly excited about today, aren't you?"

Spring, the second to hatch right after Ducky, pumped her hand to the air as she echoed with vigor. "Definitely, Mom! I've been awaiting this star day, like, ever since the last one!"

"I can certainly feel the excitement coming off your body, Spring. Well, since today is a special day for all of you, I don't wish to take up too much of your time." Shoal peered at the Great Wall, near the section where she knew the first rays of the Bright Circle would normally break over the mountain range. "With any luck, I'll be done with my talk before the Bright Circle rises," she estimated.

Ducky cocked her head. "A talk? Does this mean that you are going to congratulate us? Huh, huh?" All four swimmers were now gazing inquisitively at her mother, who respectively had a stern and lecturing gaze trained on her kids.

"I suppose you can say that." Shoal bristled, before sitting down in front of her children. "Now, dears. You're all ten today—"

"Cool!" Ducky's brother had whistled jubilantly, cutting her mother off and earning disgruntled looks from his siblings. Nevertheless, he ignored the dirty looks he was getting and pressed forth with his statement. "Once the Bright Circle comes up we're officially big swimmers! Now _we_ get to boss the younger ones around!"

Shoal's face fell slightly at the interruption, the swimmer shaking her head and wagging her finger disapprovingly at the only boy in the group. "Unlike how Mr. Threehorn makes it look, growing older isn't about attaining the authority to freely boss other dinosaurs around. We're swimmers, not threehorns—" she twisted her head around at the impish swimmer to accentuate the statement, "—which also means that being big doesn't give you a free pass to order your younger brothers and sisters around, Delta."

The swimmer visibly slouched after his negligent remark was shot to pieces by his mother. "Awwww… but that's no fun at all!" he whined playfully, placing his hands by his waist.

"Well, you'll soon find out that being a grown-up isn't quite as amazing as the flawless picture that you have painted in your heads. There are many more responsibilities that come with age," Shoal gently chided as she leaned back, wisdom emanating from her voice. "Surely you've noticed that I've started to teach you more advanced swimming techniques after every consecutive star day?"

"That _is_ true!" Spring sprang to her feet, facing her siblings with excitement written all over her face. "We're definitely better at swimming tactics when compared to the rest of our younger siblings who were hatched here in the valley!"

"As I was about to say before Delta interrupted me earlier on," Shoal cast a warning glance at the offending swimmer to prevent a repeat of such an occurrence, "please listen up and listen well. What I'm about to tell you is _very_ important."

Ducky and her siblings nodded along in sync, all equally eager to hear what their mother had to say. Though if she were to be frank, with her three surviving clutch mates sitting on the ground of their sleeping area and her mother now joining in, Ducky began to feel a little cramped. Nevertheless, she tucked her feet in and wiggled her toes about to stretch herself and prevent her muscles from aching when she got back up.

"Now, we swimmers are known for two notable things," Shoal began, "One is swimming, of course." The larger swimmer then scowled, the sides of her beak arching downwards to form the distinct curvature of a frown. "But the second thing that we're known for is a bit more subtle, and frankly, quite vulgar…"

Oxbow perked up at her mother's cliffhanger. "What is it, Mom?" she chirped expectantly, swishing her tail from side to side while waiting for the answer. Though the fifth to hatch, Oxbow was now the third-oldest still alive of the original Mysterious Beyond clutch of hatchlings. Compared to her two older sisters' more bubbly and brash personalities, she was significantly more reserved, and it even showed in her appearance, with Oxbow having a relatively scrawny body frame.

The corners of Shoal's beak curled upwards very slightly at Oxbow's query. "You know how you have so many brothers and sisters?" she gestured over to the younger siblings, all sleeping soundly, "You all were my first clutch, and I proceeded to have two more clutches of eggs after you. Do you see where I'm getting at, dears?" She paused to let it dawn on them, only continuing when she saw Spring's face lighting up in recognition.

"That's right," Shoal confirmed her daughter's instinctual hypothesis, "as crass as it is, we swimmers are also well known for kids… or to put it bluntly, having lots and lots of children. So much so, in fact, that Mr. Threehorn has ever yelled at me before in a valley meeting about this. He wanted me to tell the other swimmers to get their act together and slow down because he was scared that we would swarm the valley with young ones."

The vivid mental picture that her mom had painted of Cera's father aggressively confronting her with such an unorthodox topic caused Ducky to burst out in uncontrollable laughter, her siblings quickly joining in. As she struggled to regain her bearings, Ducky made a firm call to never let Cera know of this unless she was being explicitly prompted about it.

"His request was futile, in case you were wondering." Shoal smirked, holding a hand to her beak to suppress her chuckle while recalling the rebuttal that she'd fired back at Topps' stunned face. "When the swimmers' Time of Mating comes, there's nothing much that a mated pair can do besides, uh… well, what they're supposed to do." She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Though personally if you ask me, he's just jealous that I managed to give you guys eight new brothers and sisters in the last season while he only managed to have Tricia. He probably feels like we swimmers will eventually outnumber them threehorns, that stubborn grouch."

Though most of her audience laughed at her teasing jab, Ducky instead took on a brooding expression towards her mother's wisecrack. "So will that actually happen?" she asked, "I do not think Cera will be very happy if I tell her that our kind will outnumber hers by eight-to-one, no, no, no."

Shoal stood up in response, wearily dragging her large tail along the ground. All of a sudden, Ducky was able to tell that despite all of her mother's quips and jokes, Shoal herself was nervous about this conversation. "As a grown-up swimmer, I can guarantee you firsthand that it will happen. A network of close familial bonds is what drives swimmers to join up and form herds of their own to begin with. We form more familial cliques compared to other species, say the longnecks, due to the size of our families growing by leaps and bounds from generation to generation."

"I mean, you four already have fifteen younger brothers and sisters," she gestured over to the sleeping forms of their siblings, "and if you were to join migrating swimmer herds in future, your younger siblings will one day be able to use their relationships with you to join as well and increase your sway and influence in the herd. If I have another clutch of eggs, you can rest assured that the rest of the herd will soon be singing your praises because the proportion of swimmers in their ranks who are related to and thus amiable with you will level out to be quite the significant amount. The opposite also holds true — every kid borne by a swimmer parent who grows to adulthood is like a matured investment for them, an egg in the nest who will provide a reasonable rate of return in terms of future support which guarantees their survival and continued membership in a herd when they grow old in exchange for all the nurturing that they have laboriously put into their child."

Spring and Oxbow rubbed their chins contemplatively at the exceptionally deep talk regarding lineage in swimmer herds. Ducky also had a discernible grimace on her visage, her beak flattening to a straight line. All this newfound knowledge that her mother was dispensing so relentlessly pelted her like a torrent of falling sky water. It was making her head hurt…

Delta, however, had a differing reaction compared to his older siblings. "Join up with farwalker herds?" he repeated after his mother, the swimmer making sure to display a pronounced reaction towards his mother's words by getting to his feet and dramatically clutching his head in an exaggerated way just so he would be able to clearly express his befuddlement with Shoal's example. "You say that like we'll ever leave the Great Valley now that we're here, Mom! I remember what the Mysterious Beyond was like, and I speak on behalf of Spring and Oxbow when I say that we're not nearly as reckless as Ducky and her friends!"

Shoal sighed at her son's antics, signaling for the rambunctious Delta to sit back down when she noted that a frowning Ducky was unhappy with his insinuation. "That's what you _think_ for now, Delta." She gently closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. "But when your time comes to make a choice on whether to stay or not, the answer may not be as apparent as you assume."

Her eyelids flung open, black eyes flickering back and forth as she watched her children's expressions observantly. "The day where it'll be your turn to carry on the Circle of Life is slowly encroaching upon you. Now that you're big, we grown-ups will soon pass the mantle on to you…"

Oxbow was the first to react in a visible manner. "Wait! You mean…?"

"That's right," Shoal exhaled, squatting down and looking at each of her children in turn. "It is time that I tell you all about the Time of Great Growing."

A collective and marked reaction immediately ensued at her words, causing Shoal to use her hands to gesticulate at her gawking children with a pacifying 'stand down' manner to quell the fervid gasps and noises that they were emitting at the revelation lest they accidentally woke their siblings up with their uproar.

"Settle down, settle down." Shoal cradled Oxbow's chin with the palm of her hand. "I understand that this may not be groundbreaking news for all of you given that this is around the age where you start being curious about your futures and yourself, but it is still imperative that you be prepared for such changes. I don't want my children to walk out of my nest as helpless as a clueless yellowbelly in such matters. So long as you remain under my care, it is my responsibility as your mother to see that all of you are amply prepared."

There was intermittent silence as Shoal sized her children up one by one, her uncharacteristically robust gaze causing Ducky and Oxbow in particular to avert their eyes. Spring was nervously tapping her feet, and only Delta had an enthusiastic grin plastered on his face, in stark contrast to his three older sisters.

"Many changes will happen to you throughout the next few Cold Times." The swimmer reached up and gently stroked the curved crest on her head. "Some are on the physical side, like growing out the distinct crest that we grown-up swimmers have."

Ducky waved at her mother with one hand, palpating the back of her head with the other. "Oh, oh, oh! Is this why I have this rounded swell behind my head? I have always wondered why I had that growing back there, I did, I did."

"You're right! That bulge will soon grow into a beautiful crest, Ducky." Shoal then exhaled after her answer before raising the inflection of her voice for her next few statements. "But other changes are more emotional, and this is the crux of the matter, what I intend to bring to your fullest attention. It pays to focus your attention on the right things, children. Don't let yourself get sidetracked because you were shortsighted in vision. Remember this — though we swimmers can move in water however we please, the predictable swimmer who swims in a straight line will be the one who ends up as swimming sharptooth dinner."

Shoal clicked her tongue, her eyes hardening as she leaned forward. "As such, we have to focus on the big picture, as well as what it means for you. For boys like Delta, you might become more impulsive and assertive—"

"He already is, mom!" Spring glared at the offending swimmer, who succinctly stuck his tongue out in response to his sister's remark.

"Oh, yes!" Ducky concurred with a giggle. "Yes, yes, yes! Delta has always been that way, he has!"

Shoal shook her head in exasperation before picking up from where she'd left off. "And as for you girls, don't be surprised if you experience sudden mood swings or an intrinsic urge for companionship. Though I will say, one thing which males and females share in common throughout this tumultuous period is that both will start seeking out prospective mates-to-be. Mark my words — I won't be shocked in the slightest if one day I catch you kissing someone other than me on the beak."

"Ew, _yuck_!" Spring covered her beak, aghast at the mental picture. "Gross, gross, gross! You'll never catch me kissing another swimmer on the beak! That's disgusting! It'll never happen, ever!"

Shoal could only chuckle at her daughter's flippant reaction. "Oh, Spring," she laughed, "That was what I thought as well when I was at your age and my own parents told me the exact same thing. And if that were true…"

The swimmer abruptly opened her arms wide, clutching all her squealing children in a wide hug as she concluded, "…then well, I wouldn't have had all you wonderful children, would I?"

Spring was the first one to reluctantly break away from the familial embrace. "…it's still gross!" she insisted, though her wide smile overshadowed her grouchy tone. "Come on, guys! You think that too, don't you?" she asked, feverishly looking to her left and right in a bid to rile up support from her siblings.

"Listen to me, Spring." Shoal's motherly instincts kicked in, extending her hand out to stroke a grouchy Spring on the crown of her head. "It is in our nature to propagate our family line as much as possible. It is why even when your father passed on four Cold Times ago I still went and seeked out a temporary mate for my latest clutch of kids in the last Cold Time. But still, I don't expect you to understand my reasoning right now. The emotional aspect of the Time of Great Growing is what changes one's perception on this matter greatly."

"When your time eventually comes, you can't control it. We will all go through this," Shoal promised with a serious voice. "All of us, without exception."

Having listened attentively throughout the entire conversation, Ducky nodded along to her mother's declaration, the swimmer feeling a sense of surrealness. _I have many wonderful friends, oh, yes, yes, yes, but Mama is making this sound way more bigger-er than friendship. Will I be able to meet someone like that one day? Huh, huh…?_

That thought process was broken when Ducky noticed her sister Oxbow hesitantly raising her hand up. "Even Spike?" she meekly asked.

"Yes… even Spike," Shoal confirmed, although she appeared annoyed after her answer. "But since he is five Cold Times younger than you and around the same age as the first batch of younger siblings I had in the valley, I think we will have to wait quite a while before I give him this talk." she admitted, scratching her chin. "Though come to think of it, I won't know what to say to him. I know next to nothing about spiketail mating traditions…"

"Mooommmmm!" Delta shrieked, squealing in a high pitch which was rather unbefitting of his stature. "Oh man, are you serious right now!? That mental picture was _horrifying_!" He walked towards the cave wall and began rhythmically hitting his head against the rock. "Imagining Spike with… ugh, this is all your fault!" he shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at his humored mother. "I'm going to have bad sleep stories now, and on my hatch day too!"

For her part, a repulsed Ducky was rubbing her eyes vigorously to scrub away any impure, horrid thoughts of her brother before her mind ended up permanently tainted to the extent where she would be unable to maintain a straight face when looking Spike in the eye. "Oh, I agree! I do not want to even think about Spike like that. No, no, no!"

Their mother laughed heartily. "Okay, all jokes about Spike aside, just remember this, children. You are likely to find your significant other one day in the future, and when that day comes, I will support you in your endeavors."

"Moommm!" Spring drawled, holding out her voice almost as long as Delta had. "I told you, that day will _never_ come for me. In the words of Ducky — nope, nope, nope!" she chirped off her elder sister's signature triple affirmation.

Shoal cut off Ducky's giggle with a striking proclamation. "This much, I will guarantee you — the transition from young child into fledgling swimmer who is ready to make their mark on this pristine land will be a bumpy and turbulent period filled with many challenges. But please, don't worry. I will be with you through this all the way."

The dark-green swimmer hugged the eager group of teenagers-to-be, before whispering a soft vow into their ears.

"No matter what happens, you will always be my precious children…"

* * *

The pristine memory faded away for Ducky almost as quickly as it had started. What her mama had told her about the Time of Great Growing rang forebodingly in her head. Despite her mother's insistence that she would be with her daughter in such trying times, Ducky was still apprehensive about talking to her about Ferris.

Her silence didn't go unnoticed by the other swimmer astutely looking at her. "Are you worried?" Jovi asked, passively placing an arm to his forehead. "You looked rather deep in thought for a moment. Well, don't fret and just let it happen. The more you worry, the more stressed you'll become. I should know, considering that I've had to deal with it for a while now." He shook his head resolutely, likely expelling some unpleasant memories, if Ducky were to guess. "I hatched almost three Cold Times before you, and often I yearn for the days of my ignorant childhood…"

"You do not look thirteen! Not at all, nope, nope, nope!" was all a startled Ducky could say. She looked at Jovi from head to toe, observing that he was only about half a head taller than her. Had Jovi not admitted how old he was, she would have made an educated guess of his age… one that would have been hilariously inaccurate.

A self-conscious Jovi proceeded to pout, folding his arms at her comment. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, thrusting his hands skywards to vent his frustration. "The Time of Great Growing wasn't very kind to me. My growth was stunted compared to my peers, and far too often to count many of the other swimmers around my age would take one look at me, forget that I'm right smack in the middle of the Time of Great Growing because of my size and thus ignore me completely. Gah… so, so frustrating! I m-mean, even a nobody like me have needs too, y'know?"

Without any warning, yet again the topic of the conversation suddenly shifted to one which Ducky wasn't expecting, catching her completely off guard.

"I won't lie. You're a pretty cute swimmer, Ducky," Jovi complimented, curtsying at her with a hyperbolized bow. "No wonder Ferris has his sights on you," he commented with a whistle, "you're definitely a worthwhile catch to any swimmer worth their treestars now that you've reached your Time of Great Growing."

Ducky blushed at Jovi's cordial flattery. It wasn't as grandiose as Ferris singing her praises, but it was still a lot for her to take in. "You are welcome! You are, you are!" she beamed, bashfully holding her palms to her reddening cheeks. "It is just… I am not used to being the center of attention. Nope, nope, nope…"

Sensing Ducky's unease, Jovi stepped back to give her space. "Yeah, sorry." he apologized, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "Apologies if I'm made you uncomfortable with what I just said… oh, and for being pushy with my interrogation earlier. You're a special swimmer, and I'm worried for you…"

Letting his words trail off, Jovi sharply jerked his head in frustration. "Gee, what is with me today? I'm not normally this talkative around the other swimmers. I prefer keeping to myself…"

Ducky was about to return the favor and help Jovi as thanks for him assisting her with her confused emotions about Ferris when a flash of blue hovering in the distance caught her eye. "That is Petrie brother!" she gasped, recognizing the flyer's distinct shade of dark blue. Since he shared the same wing color as Petrie's mother, she was able to see the family resemblance even though she didn't quite remember his name.

Her surprised remark caught the attention of the circling flyer, who quickly yelled to them. "Hey there! You two! You gotta help out, man!" he shouted in a frantic voice, pointing towards the river with one wing. "That poor fella over there is in a predicament that only fellow swimmers can solve! Save him, I beg you!"

Following his trailing wing, Ducky squinted her eyes down towards the river.

And then, she saw it.

Struggling futilely against the waves was the swimmer who she'd just met earlier in the day, Paddy. His distinctive dark-gray coat flashed by so quickly that Ducky almost mistook him for strands of water plants. Another roll of the waves and a bob of the swimmer's head later was enough to dispel that though, however, and without even waiting for an instruction, Ducky instinctively dived into the river.

The harsh force of the fast water breaking on her body didn't matter, nor did the sudden dip in temperature. The only thing that mattered was rescuing the stricken Paddy before he was lost to the waves.

Everything passed by in a blur for Ducky. She could vaguely recall brief glimpses of grabbing onto a clammy hand, forcefully kicking her feet to break up for air, and tenaciously dragging Paddy back to shore. Pure adrenaline fueled her muscles as she gripped onto the unconscious Paddy, and upon looking back on the whole experience after it was over in an attempt to review what she had done in the heat of the moment, Ducky found that the minute and irrelevant details were lost to her, her brain only managing to capture significant snapshots of what had gone down during those frenzied few moments.

Panting as she finally reached the riverbank, Ducky jumped out of the swift currents and with a forceful tug lugged an unconscious Paddy up onto the sanctuary that was dry land. In an attempt to resuscitate him, she raised a foot over Paddy's chest before forcefully stepping down on it with as much force as her small body could muster up.

Rewarded with a splutter as Paddy reflexively coughed and expelled out some water, Ducky began to smile in relief when she saw him beginning to stir with a pained groan. "Oh, thank goodness!" She clapped both her hands together, taking her foot off his chest. "You are awake! You are, you are!"

He visibly reacted to her voice, sharply tilting his head towards her. "D-Du… Ducky?" he slurred.

When Ducky noticed that the direction of his gaze was askew from where she was actually standing, her heart clenched with worry. _Paddy must have hit his head while he was being swept away by the fast water, yep, yep, yep…_

She leaned over his head, wagging a finger to reprimand Paddy in hopes of getting the hasty swimmer to lay back down and rest. Head injuries were not good. "You should not move so much! You almost drowned-ed." _Would have drowned if not for me, yep, yep, yep_ , her mind added rather unhelpfully, which was concisely summarized down to a typical, "you did, you did…" addendum for posterity. "I was so afraid for you. I was, I was!" she emphatically voiced her concerns, inwardly fighting to keep up the smile on her face. "If I did not come and save you, you would not be here right now, oh, no, no, no!"

Her skin bristled, multiple goosebumps breaking out as thoughts of the unthinkable encroached the recesses of her mind. The idea of death wasn't something which occupied her head often, but even Ducky had to admit that she previously undergone through her fair share of close shaves on many occasions prior. The brutal reminder of her own mortality—that the fragile life that leaf-eaters like her lived could be snatched away at any time—often came close to bringing the emotional swimmer to tears, the memory of half her siblings meeting their ends during the time where she'd lived in the Mysterious Beyond for her first five Cold Times of her life a chilling reminder that nobody's life was exempt from being tragically cut short by the cruel jaws of fate.

Noticing that tears were still nestled in Paddy's eyes, Ducky hurriedly wiped her misty eyes before his blurred vision cleared up and the other swimmer caught her in a compromised, emotional state.

"You… save… me?" Paddy asked, the pupils of his eyes still unfocused and disoriented, which only added to his overall disheveled appearance.

Ducky smirked. She didn't need to brood or suppress any negative thoughts for _this_ answer. "Yep, yep, yep!" she affirmed, "I did, I did!"

To her shock, a queasy Paddy pulled himself to his feet and began stumbling away. Too stunned by the fact that he actually made such a foolhardy attempt to stop him, she watched with a sense of dread when he suddenly lost his footing and lurched forward.

"Paddy!" She rushed over to his side. "What are you doing!? A-Are you okay? You should not be standing up! Nope, nope, nope!"

But annoyingly, Paddy ignored her, pushing her hand aside as he staggered his way over to Jovi. Flickering her eyes over to the swimmer in question, Ducky was surprised to see that Jovi was so stiff and motionless from shock that he could legitimately pass off as a miniature Saurus Rock.

"Oh, thank you! You save m…" Paddy appeared to sober up mid-sentence, brief panic seizing Paddy momentarily for some reason that eluded Ducky, "…my life!"

 _H-Hey!_ Ducky pouted at Paddy, who was vigorously shaking the hands of a paralyzed Jovi. _I just told-ed you that I was the one who saved you! You should be thanking me, you should, you should!_

However, Ducky found that she couldn't be frustrated by the lack of attribution with regards to rescuing Paddy from his watery fate for long, especially when it occurred to her that there was _so_ much more that she wanted to scold him about.

 _You silly swimmer! You are so very stubborn, you are, you are! You are behaving just like Cera does when she is upset!_

…a thought which she quickly vocalized to the uncooperative swimmer as she quickly trapped Paddy in an inescapable hold by embracing him tightly using her two arms.

"You are so very reckless! You are, you are! I will not let you go until you promise to sit down and rest quietly, Paddy! I am telling you to rest but instead you are acting like Cera when Cera is not happy." She mentally issued an apology to Cera for using the threehorn as a scapegoat example for the second time that day before continuing to berate Paddy. "And Cera is a threehorn, so she does not tend to be happy very often, nope, nope, nope…"

Although he squeaked in surprise when caught in her vice grip, Paddy quickly managed to calm down enough to return the hug by placing his own arms by her back. While she had initially initiated the embrace to trap Paddy and prevent him from doing anything reckless, Ducky had to admit that she was quite disappointed when Petrie's brother interrupted them and they were forced to break apart.

She actually liked the warmth of his body. It wasn't often that she hugged someone around her size outside of her family due to vast differences in size between species. For instance, whenever she cuddled Spike, she often had to press her entire body against her brother's face or foot. As a result, the feeling that she got from this embrace was certainly… different, to say the least.

Midway through Paddy's conversation with Petrie's brother, Ducky felt her blood freeze when her wandering eyes managed to see a group of swimmers and flyers headed in their direction. Of course, what caught her attention the most was Ferris, who was marching towards them in a domineering manner.

Oh, well. To tell the truth, she had a feeling this would happen. There was no way that Ferris wouldn't catch wind of what was happening sooner or later.

As Ferris approached, Ducky slid her eye over to her left and noticed that Paddy looked ready to bolt. It wasn't even surreptitious — the intention was clearly written on the swimmer's face. If he wasn't so clearly dizzy, Ducky had a feeling that Paddy could give Ruby a decent showing when it came to running… he could, he could.

Maybe they should have held a running race instead of a river race? It seemed as though it would suit Paddy better. It would, it would!

When Paddy finally noticed her sneaking glances at him, his face paled significantly. His eyes were darting all about, further lending credence to the theory that he was terrified of Ferris.

Ducky snorted, quickly deciding that she would take Paddy's side in the ensuing brawl that was bound to happen.

But just like everyone else, even Ferris himself decided to be unpredictable for once and catch her off guard yet again in what was definitely becoming an annoyingly persistent trend on this highly unpredictable day.

"Anyway, you've got some explaining to do, mister! What the blazes was that!?"

 _Why is he looking that way? It does not make sense at all… why is Ferris asking him that question?_

 _I do not understand what is going on, oh, no, no, no…_

* * *

Petrie could feel his heart skip a beat as the anger embedded in Ferris' shout reverberated around the area.

Was this it? Were his efforts all for naught? Would he have to come clean even after he had nearly drowned to avoid the possibility of this exact scenario coming to fruition? Had everything that he'd done to divert attention away wound up being rendered null and void?

Despite the tense atmosphere permeating the air, Petrie couldn't help but to scowl. Surely the Bright Circle wouldn't be this unfair! There was no way that it could let a bad flyer like Vekal get away with his threat without comeuppance while an innocent party like him took the fall.

" _That said, I doubt that you'll succeed. And I'm afraid that your failure means that I'll have the last laugh."_

Vekal's callous vow from earlier in the day before the flyer had taken off continued to resonate strongly within Petrie, the dire threat of leaving his hapless victim perpetually stuck as a swimmer now frighteningly close to becoming reality.

Though that deadly bet Petrie had ended up getting himself completely embroiled in this fiasco, and now as the center of attention he couldn't find a feasible way out. He looked at the circle of swimmers and flyers now surrounding him, now adamantly certain that his near-drowning at the hands of the fast water had definitely raised some eyebrows.

 _No, no, no… Petrie no can take it anymore! Me complete wreck! If Ferris question me now, me sure break down and tell him everything in front of siblings and Ducky, and then it all be over for Petrie! Me gonna stay stuck as swimmer forever!_

"You obstinate pain in the tail!"

Petrie was thrust out of his inner despair by another outburst from Ferris, the enraged swimmer lashing out by shaking a clenched fist in frustration. "Are you even listening to a single word I'm saying? Or are you plugging your ears and pretending that everything is all fine and dandy?"

"Ouch." Petrie heard Roll comment from the side, the flyer letting out a snort of approval. "Didn't know you use that sharp tongue on everyone. And here I thought I was special…"

 _You no helping, Roll!_ Petrie scowled. _You just make Petrie more nervous than before!_

Right as Petrie's frayed nerves hit their breaking point and the flyer-turned-swimmer found himself solely tempted to just bite down on the rotten treestar and take the plunge by acknowledging Ferris with a reply, the swimmer proceeded to hiss out a sentence which changed the entire context of his whole flare-up.

"Don't ignore me, _Jovi_!"

 _J-Jovi?_ Petrie blinked in surprise, only noticing with that final word that Ferris had been focusing his vision off-center from his direction. With a clearer vision once he rubbed his eyes, he could now actually see that the skewed perspective had led Petrie to believe that Ferris was looking at him when he had instead been directing his gaze slightly behind Petrie, ranting towards the spot where Jovi had been standing all this time.

Ferris hadn't been talking down to him. He had been shouting at his own herd mate from the very start.

One good thing had come out of this diversion, however. Where there was previously nothing but blind panic fueled by uncertainty, Petrie's anxiety was slowly being replaced by a serene sensation of calm. Though he felt sorry for Jovi, he also knew that this was his golden opportunity. If Ferris was going to direct the brunt of his anger at Jovi, he just might be able to survive through the entire session if he played his hand right.

And from the looks of things, it appeared he need not worry about being targeted as Ferris seemed to be going in for the kill. Still getting no response from the catatonic swimmer, Ferris scooted over and glared at Jovi with a face that could barely disguise his contempt.

Jovi gulped, which Petrie was pretty sure was the first movement Jovi made since he had regained consciousness. "Fer… ris…" he stammered.

"You utter _coward_!"

The way that Ferris had enunciated the word caused everyone around to flinch.

"Why in the name of the Bright Circle did you not help Paddy?! Look at me, Jovi!" Ferris ordered when he saw the navigator diverting his gaze, "You can't just close your eyes and ignore everything, pretending in your mind that by willing the problem away you'll be able to absolve yourself of any blame or wrongdoing."

"Bu-bu-but…" Jovi stuttered, struggling and failing to string together his stumbling mess of words into a coherent sentence.

"No 'buts'!" Ferris forcefully interjected, continuing to berate his subordinate. "You aren't squirming your way out of this! What possible excuse do you have for clamming up like that when Paddy could have drowned thanks to your lack of initiative! You could've jumped in to rescue him instead of just standing there and shouting futilely for help! Bah… what were you thinking!? He was right within your reach! Why didn't you do something… _literally anything_!?"

"…I didn't even yell for help," Jovi finally managed to spit out, looking pitifully towards Yaw. "You must have been mistaken, Ferris. It was the flyer who was calling for help…"

Ferris grit his teeth, stomping his foot on the grass upon hearing Jovi's confession. Now suitably incensed at Jovi's perceived nonchalance… or rather, more of the fact that the shaken swimmer was trying to shrug off the near-drowning incident as though it was no big deal, Ferris proceeded to blow his gasket, letting loose a flurry of derogatory remarks.

"Blithering moron! What sort of excuse is that? That makes it even worse! Your inaction boggles my mind! I mean, you could have assisted by flanking Ducky and tag-teaming her to rescue that struggling swimmer! Come on, do you _really_ think being a bystander and doing nothing when someone's in danger is the right thing to do? Well, tell me, what if Ducky was caught in the fast water too, huh!? What would you have done then? Yell futilely for assistance that wouldn't come along with the flyer?"

Ferris jerked his head in the direction of the river, pointing at the rapids with a snarl. "Look… I'm simply being reasonable here. I was only just warned about the situation by that flyer, so I might not have been able to reach here in time, you know? You and Ducky were leagues closer to the flailing Paddy in comparison." He snapped his head back at Jovi, frustration abound on his face. "Just think of it this way — if Paddy did indeed drown because of your negligence, you would have had blood on your hands! Is that what you want, Jovi… _is it_!?"

"It is not his fault, Ferris! Jovi was just scared-ed! He was, he was!"

Petrie was startled when he heard his friend's distinct voice jumping into Ferris' admonishment session, although he could see that unlike at the start of the race, this time around Ducky was willing to give Ferris more leeway as she could actually relate to the other swimmer's reasoning.

Ferris' face softened when he heard Ducky's plea, but still he remained adamant. "Spare me the senseless prattling," he shrugged nonchalantly, glowering at Ducky with icy eyes. "You can't possibly excuse Jovi's behavior, Ducky. Look at it in an objective manner. Surely you remember that he was the one who asked you to come along in the first place. If there was no one patrolling that river or he hadn't made that decision to start with, then our friend Paddy here would be lying at the bottom of the river as we speak!"

Though Ferris had worded it in a curt way, Petrie felt a chill running down his body. He had, after all, worked out earlier that Jovi's suggestion was what saved him when his plan to throw the race had backfired magnificently. He owed the fact that he was still alive and kicking to a hardworking Jovi scouting the river out ahead of schedule. His life had hung in the balance, hinging on what seemed like an insignificant decision. If Jovi hadn't been there and hadn't asked Ducky to come with him, then Ducky couldn't have possibly saved him in his hour of need…

"Hey! You there, flyer!" Ferris beckoned Yaw towards him with a 'come here' gesture using two digits of his hand. "Your sister told me that you were circling Paddy to signal for help, but if Ducky wasn't there, what would you have done?"

The crowd of dinosaurs observing the spectacle dispersed slightly as the focus was directed onto someone different for a change. Finding himself in the spotlight, Yaw stiffened, his jaw clenched tightly. One could hear him gnashing his teeth together.

"Well…" he started, "I would've rescued him, of course."

"Then why didn't you do just that?" Ferris deadpanned in a deliberating tone, one which made it clear that the swimmer didn't buy Yaw's explanation in the slightest. "Your sister and I argued for ages before I was brought here and yet in that time Ducky was the one who saved him. Why weren't you the one scooping him from the water if that's the case, might I enquire?"

"Okay… fine!" Yaw grimaced, his lie unfurling completely. "I… I probably wouldn't have been able to grab him with my talons. The waves are far too unpredictable! If I dove and missed, I would be the next victim!" The flyer constantly had a stressed-out demeanor, but at Ferris' armor-piercing question his posture slouched even further, the accumulated stress erupting as Yaw proceeded to gesticulate wildly with his wings. "These things are made for flying, not swimming!" he insisted.

"What was that, Yaw…?" A teasing voice chuckled, causing everyone in the vicinity to be taken aback by the sound of a sudden entrant. "Why, I never thought I'd see the day where my younger brother would actually show humility in front of others. You should give yourself a pat on the wing for that."

A stupefied Yaw snapped his head around at the russet-brown flyer who had snuck up from behind the crowd to take a shot at him. "P-P-Pitch!" he squawked, completely mortified.

The circle that had previously surrounded Petrie from front and back parted to reveal Ferris' sister and his own sister coming from the direction of the falls, where the river had originated from upstream. Even if Petrie hadn't immediately linked the entrant's amused voice to that of his eldest sibling, the phrase 'younger brother' being said to Yaw with a teasing lilt left no room for doubt due to the fact that Pitch was the only one who matched the relevant parameters, namely that of being the singular sibling who was older than Yaw.

As if having two nosy siblings poking their beaks in wasn't bad enough, now Petrie had three of them to deal with. To make matters worse, poised directly under the flying Pitch was Amaryl, who Petrie knew to be aggressive from what he'd seen of her. And sure enough, Amaryl wasted no time in quirking her head at the large crowd curiously and riling them up with a few choice words of her own.

"What's all this commotion about, Ferris? I was minding my own business at the starting point when this flyer here flew over and told me there was trouble downstream." She exhaled a tired sigh, her tail drooping in disappointment. "Frankly, I don't know what I was expecting — I should've known that someone of your caliber wouldn't even be able to manage a simple swimming race without it turning into a complete disaster, brother," she moped, folding her arms.

Lines were visible on Ferris' forehead as the agitated swimmer scrunched his expression up at his sister's interference. Unlike before where Petrie had seen Amaryl domineering over her older brother, this time Ferris took initiative and stormed towards her. "Will you give it a rest? Now is not the time!" he snapped, causing his startled sister to back away. "This isn't about my reputation or my leadership management abilities, Amaryl! I don't care about the 'oh, I suck at leadership' spiel that you constantly have against me. This isn't a game or a squabble over who's better… it ceased to be when someone's life was at stake!"

Amaryl looked at Ferris pensively. "T-That's not what I—"

"Paddy almost drowned today, and I want to find out why it happened!" Ferris raised his voice to a fever pitch to interject, a prominent sneer on his face as he proceeded to glare at his herd navigator scornfully. "Come to think of it, I don't just hope to know 'why'. I also want to know how it got to this point in the first place. Things should never have escalated to the point where a more passive herd member like Jovi ended up being put in a situation where he couldn't be bothered to save a swimmer who was in desperate need of help!"

Jovi was repeatedly blinking his eyes as forcefully as he could, the fervent manner that he was performing the action suggesting that he wanted to wipe clean every last image that he had just witnessed from his memory. The swimmer was swaying uneasily on his feet, the contours of his face scrunched up in a contemplative manner. It was rather blatant to even the most unobservant of onlookers that he was exceptionally shaken after being talked down by Ferris. Given how similar Jovi's passive demeanor was to his own, Petrie quickly surmised that his leader's reprimand had quite a profound impact on the other swimmer.

"Speaking of why it happened in the first place…"

Petrie gulped when he saw Amaryl stealthily cutting in the conversation while whirling onto him, the black swimmer finding himself shrinking back when all eyes were subsequently turned onto him as well.

 _Oh, what you want with Petrie? Go back to bothering your brother Ferris! Me like it when you do that!_

He could see that Amaryl had a frustrated expression on her face. If Petrie were to guess, the swimmer wasn't used to her brother actually countering her, so now she was seeking out another way to vent her sarcasm. His own siblings were the same way, often switching targets if he lashed out at them whenever things got far too rough.

"…there's something I don't get," Amaryl continued to speak, peering at Petrie with raised eyebrows. "After I gave the signal for the race to start, I saw you walking on the edges of the river by using the banks as support, and not swimming in the middle like you were supposed to. Why do that, I ponder…?"

Petrie clenched his beak, his heart pounding when he heard Amaryl's carefree statement. Of all the rotten luck…

"What?" Ferris was initially startled by the news, blinking his eyes in confusion. "I… didn't know that." The swimmer then calmly mulled the new information over, his facial features controlled and thus telegraphing nothing of note to any of the other parties in the conversation.

"…why weren't you swimming against the fast water, Paddy?" he finally asked Petrie in a subdued voice that significantly differed from his normal bombastic one. "If you're caught in the current, being fast is better than being slow. Walking is a surefire way to getting yourself washed away."

His eye slowly slid towards his sister. "And don't you try and turn me into the bad swimmer in all of this by twisting my words against me and saying that this whole thing stemmed from an unfortunate misunderstanding, Amaryl! I would think that I made my words clear and concise enough for a hatchling to understand."

"So answer me, Paddy. Please…" The swimmer clasped his palms together, looking at Petrie with pleading eyes that beseeched an answer. "I want to know why you almost drowned on my watch. It's my responsibility as future herd leader to take care of all my herd members, and as much as it pains me to say it, that includes a blowhard like you who tried to lie his way in as one."

Petrie looked around to make a preliminary inspection of the various tense emotions running across the other dinosaurs packed around the area, seeing a concerned Ducky leaning against a bush. Jovi still remained unmoving, his sister Roll appeared apathetic to the whole darn thing, and his other two siblings were leaning forward in interest.

He inhaled sharply, realizing that his decision was now a pivotal one. There really was no way around this. Amaryl dropping her witness proclamation and switching the conversation back on topic was like the Days of Rising Waters all over again — all Petrie could do was try to contain the damage and ensuing fallout that was sure to follow.

A huge consolation was that Ferris was significantly less agitated with Petrie as compared to his own herd mates. Maybe the swimmer was going easy on him since he'd just survived a harrowing near-death experience, or maybe Ferris really did feel sorry for Paddy. Regardless of the cause of his personality shift, Petrie would take this mellow Ferris over the confrontational braggart at the start of the race in a heartbeat.

Since Ferris was currently in quite a volatile state, ranging from being soft-spoken towards him to suddenly yelling at Amaryl and Jovi, Petrie decided to test the waters with a concessionary statement. He normally wouldn't have done this, but given that Amaryl had given him no choice and Ferris was now more receptive…

"I… no know how to swim… in fast water!" Petrie hurriedly added the last three words, though he wasn't quick enough to stop Ferris from reacting.

"Are you _crazy_ , Paddy!?" Ferris shouted at the coughing Petrie, his face fraught with anxiety. All traces of any prior smugness had evaporated away completely, replaced entirely with an even mix of anger and distress. As a matter of fact, Ferris' angered shout was so forceful that it snapped Jovi completely out of his reverie. "You reckless moron! If you haven't managed to grasp the concept of fast water swimming, why didn't you pull out or just flat out decline when I put forth my challenge to you!? You could have been gravely injured… o-or… or _worse_!"

"M-I scared to tell you, Ferris! You so forceful! I never thought you ever say no!"

"So, you claim that you were simply being… modest," Ferris prodded.

Though Petrie internally acknowledged it as a lie by omission given that the real reason he stuck around in the race had nothing to do with being modest at all, or even Ferris threatening him for that matter, he pressed on regardless. "Why you act like you care now?" He deftly puffed his chest out, all traces of uneasiness vanishing in an instant. "You look like you want see Paddy drown when race start!" he accused, eyes flashing angrily.

Ferris looked positively appalled by Petrie's suggestion, the swimmer balking at the very idea. "Okay, I'll be a filthy liar if I said that I didn't want to obliterate and grind you beneath my heel so that I can put someone who has no idea of how to gauge their own ability like you in your rightful place… so, I won't deny that. However!" he suddenly raised his voice without any discernible preamble, causing Petrie's ears to ring from the forceful change in vocal tone. "Just because I don't like the fact that you lied to my face about being in my herd doesn't mean that I want to see you drown! Call me whatever you want, but I'm no cruel sharptooth! I would never wish such a brutal fate on anyone I meet, enemy or otherwise!"

"G-gah…" Ferris spluttered, his trembling hands visibly pale and clammy, "you could have just told me about this beforehand! I would have picked something else… anything else!"

"Then why didn't you pick something else from the very start?" Surprisingly, it wasn't Petrie or Ducky who had voiced that concern, but an inquisitive Pitch, who quickly managed to derive much of the context regarding what had happened from the snippets of heated words that were being thrown around since she made her entrance.

Ferris shrugged. "Well… because it's tradition." Seeing many boggled eyes at his vague response, the swimmer began to pace about, elaborating with a contemplative expression. If we just let anyone join our ranks on a whim, the herd would eventually become far too chaotic for us to effectively manage and control, especially if there are multiple rampant freeloaders who would leech off our scarce resources."

At this point, he broke into an enthusiastic grin. "That is when my Pops came up with an ingenious way to screen prospective swimmers to ensure that every one of them will be an asset to the herd — the Test of Joining!" Gesturing to the river, Ferris made a paddling motion with his arms to strengthen the impact of the story. "The test consists of a river race with an established member of the herd, and it is used to see if a prospective swimmer would be able to pull their weight or end up being a burden to the herd."

Concluding his elaboration on the Test of Joining led to a sharp shift in Ferris' expression, his green eyes rapidly losing their luster and gaining a heavy weight to them as he tilted his head towards Petrie. "While it might be an intimidation tactic to scare off any would-be hagglers trying to freely take advantage of the benefits of a herd without contributing anything back, it's not meant to be a deadly trial! We're not savages!"

A somber quiet descended upon the crowd at Ferris' final proclamation. Many of Petrie's siblings were making nonverbal remarks with each other through the use of their eyes, and the swimmers of Ferris' herd were also rather silent. Even Amaryl, who Petrie would have expected to fire a retort at her brother Ferris, was instead fiddling with a treestar on the ground, playing around with it in a way that made it seem like she was distracting herself from saying something she shouldn't.

"Do you want to know what I think?" Ducky muttered, breaking the silence as she glared at Ferris. "I do not think that Jovi or Paddy is to blame. I think that _you_ are the one at fault, Ferris! You are, you are!" Not a single trace of warmth was discernible from her usually peppy blue eyes as she made the scathing denouncement. "Maybe Paddy cannot swim in fast water, but you were so scary and stubborn when you forced him into a fast water race that he could not say no to you, nope, nope, nope!"

The smile on Petrie's face fractured when he saw Ducky jumping to his defense. While he had to admit that he absolutely relished the downcast expression on Ferris' face as Ducky grilled into the swimmer without mercy, a part of him felt guilt-ridden that Ducky was making her assessment based on what she and everyone else thought she knew about the situation… which, unbeknownst to everyone but Petrie, was blatantly inaccurate.

While it was true that Ferris was assertive and had adamantly pushed for a race to be held between the two, it wasn't the actual root cause behind why he'd almost drowned beneath the chilly waves. Heck, even if the race had been held at a regular river and not fast water, Petrie was certain he would still be thrashing about helplessly the moment his foot left the embankment.

He could've fled the premises then— _should have_ fled the premises then—but what made him stay and agree to the competition was plain and simple. When Ferris had caught his blunder, he had panicked. With Ducky right beside him and possibly realizing something was up, Petrie felt as though he had no choice but to put on a show to quash any such thoughts.

The actual reason he felt as though he was left with no choice but to participate had nothing to do with Ferris. In reality, agreeing to Ferris' terms were a consequence of the bet he'd made with the treacherous Vekal, the merciless flyer who treated Petrie's unwanted transformation like it was some sort of game by forcing him to remain hidden in plain sight just to earn his body back.

 _You looking at Petrie right now when me be tortured like this, Vekal? You like see Petrie suffer?_ Petrie wondered, bitterly peering his head all around to attempt to catch a glimpse of the dirt-yellow flyer. The flyer—likely in cahoots with Vekal—who he had spotted perching on the Great Wall earlier was also nowhere to be seen, but the adolescent's warning was what had unknowingly sealed Petrie's fate.

 _"I have my ways of knowing. Spill the sweet bubbles and I will ensure that you stay this way forever…"_

Whether or not the threat had legitimacy didn't matter in the end. It could have been nothing but a mind game for all he knew, and yet that worrisome what-if was enough to give Petrie doubt whenever he thought of absconding. He hadn't seen a trace of Vekal since morning, and yet the flyer's pervasive influence still persistently lingered around like Spike's occasional stench.

All those factors combined to almost lead Petrie to a catastrophic end. And while Ferris was being hung out to dry as the scapegoat in the aftermath, Petrie wished in his heart that the flyer behind-the-scenes would also eventually pay for his actions.

"I don't think it's fair that you're singling me out here, Ducky."

Petrie perked up when he saw Ferris echoing his innermost thoughts, the swimmer now in a rather unhappy mood. "Fine, I was the one who called the race… I'll concede that much. But if Paddy was so uncomfortable with fast water swimming and also hesitant to admit it to me, then he should have sounded it off to either Amaryl or Bartley! They could have convinced me to downscale it. Bottom line is, I don't like the fact that you're solely blaming me for this, Ducky." He jerked his head in Petrie's direction, "Paddy knew the risks, and yet he risked life and limb to go through with it just so he could get a chance to join Pops' herd. Don't you think that's a reckless decision on his part?"

Ducky's eyes gleamed evilly, a cheeky smirk gracing her beak. "Oh, you should see my friends and I when we go out on adventures. Hee… some of those is what _I_ would call reckless, yep, yep, yep!" she chanted.

"Hah!" Yaw cackled, his sisters Pitch and Roll laughing too hard at Ducky's words to make any meaningful contribution to the conversation. "Now _that_ is truth if I've ever heard one! There's no need for you to be modest, Ducky… not when the seven of you consistently drove the whole valley crazy with your hijinks!"

Petrie tilted his head back and let out a genuine laugh at his brother's statement, before doubling back with a double-take when he caught something unnerving out of the corner of his eye.

Towards his front and right, around where Ferris' assistant Bartley was situated, were a pair of hardened teal eyes hidden behind the dense undergrowth that surrounded the banks of the river.

A paranoid Petrie suddenly found himself on the onset of hyperventilating. Just when things were looking up, the knowledge that he was being observed by an unknown party brought him crashing back down to earth.

Now, teal wasn't Vekal's eye color — the flyer had distinct golden eyes that gleamed malevolently under the Night Circle. Petrie would never forget that initial view of seeing the flyer impassively roosting on a tree branch under the moonlit rays. The calm tranquility exhibited by his golden irises and relaxed posture was an astounding sight, one which was seared into his memory.

But if it wasn't Vekal, who was that, then? Another one of his associates? Petrie knew that he'd seen those eyes somewhere before, but exactly where and when escaped him for the moment. Before he could take another step towards the bushes and investigate the matter further, Petrie found himself being pulled back by an upbeat Ducky.

"The reason I choose to blame you for what happened to Paddy is simple, Ferris. It is, it is!"

Ducky pulled an unsettled Petrie up to her chest and proceeded to wink at him mischievously, a gesture which completely confounded the former flyer. He tried to extrapolate what Ducky was driving at from her gestures and words, but all his mind could come up with was a blank.

Now firmly the center of attention by swimmers and flyers alike, Ducky looked a wary Ferris in the eye. "I would not be blaming you without proof, but I was with you back when you were yelling at Paddy before the race and I think that I have seen all the proof I need through your harsh words and actions. I have, I have! That is why I do not think that the only reason you called-ed the fast water race was because of your herd's Test of Joining tradition, nope, nope, nope."

Tightening her grip on Petrie, Ducky swished her tail from left to right in a steady rhythm. "I think the real reason you wanted to race with Paddy is because you were jealous of him! You were, you were!" She tilted her head down to Petrie, though keeping her stare focused on Ferris. "That is the reason you are targeting Paddy for not speaking up before the race — it is all so that you can shift the blame over to him!"

Ferris was completely at a loss of words, the swimmer opening his beak but unable to articulate a comeback to Ducky's accusation.

"You are blaming everyone but yourself, you are, you are! I have a friend named Cera, and because she is a threehorn she sometimes behaves this way as well," Ducky smiled, though it quickly turned into a frown. "But even though Cera does it, she does not go overboard, and I still do not like it whenever others act like this. Nope, nope, nope!"

Petrie glanced around when he heard a sound, turning his head back to see Amaryl snorting and holding back her laughter at being proved right in the conversation which he had overheard between the two siblings earlier in the day.

"The truth is that I did not know Paddy before today," Ducky continued on, "I had only just met Paddy for the first time when you came. But then you got super defensive and assumed the worst-est between us because of how close we seemed to be, and that is why I think you ordered Bartley to organize a race which nearly killed Paddy! You should not behave like that, Ferris! Being jealous of someone else is not a good feeling…" Her eyes solemnly fell down to the grass by her feet, the swimmer letting out a sniff as a tear started to form in her left eye. "I was once jealous at someone before, and I have hurt-ed others I care about because of it…"

Even with that limited context, Petrie knew immediately what his despondent friend was reminiscing about. _Ducky thinking about what happen two Cold Times ago… that when she got mad with Spike and Tippy!_

Ducky hurriedly wiped the streaking tear away with her free hand, maintaining her hold on Petrie with her right arm. "You can hurt others even if you do not intend to hurt them when you get jealous, and you have already hurt me because of what you did! You did, you did! I begged you to forgive Paddy but you chose not to listen to me! I hope you feel happy for that, Ferris, I hope!" she sarcastically uttered in a sardonic timbre, one which Petrie rarely heard as the sweet-natured Ducky only ever saved it for the very sporadic occasions where she was truly furious.

"In fact, if I had to choose between you and Paddy, I would pick Paddy! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky declared with fervent vigor, her head bobbing in a metronome with every assertion of her triple affirmation.

Petrie's head shot towards Ducky, his eyes widening to a comically large size. There was however, nothing comical at all in what he'd just heard.

 _D-Ducky say what about Petrie? Oh, what me got meself into now!?_

"And I will prove it to you, too!" Her blue eyes flashed with determination as she eyeballed the swimmer in her arms. "I will, I will!"

"Uh… uuwwaagghhh!"

Petrie had no time to react at all. A half uttered shriek was the only thing his beak could expel before he found himself being yanked in Ducky's direction.

After the sudden blur of movement, the next thing that Petrie was able to sense was something moist on the side of his face. Nervously shifting his eyes left, he almost fainted at what he saw.

Ducky was kissing him on the cheek in full view of the crowd, her blue eyes shining brightly with a mix of glee and playfulness.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hey, remember the part where I said something about there being a pairing in this story in the prologue chapter? Thought it completely slipped my mind when I delved into a seemingly unrelated tangent for an entire year, didn't you? :p

In case it wasn't clear from the get-go that this story is going to be a slow burn, here ya' go — every single Ducky & Petrie fic that I've had the pleasure of reading has the swimmer and flyer hooking up and reaching a comfortable relationship within… well, less than one-third of the number of words that it took for me to even get them into a scenario which warrants an unintentional kiss. For reference, the nine chapters it took to escalate things to this point is longer than the entirety of the similarly structured _The Time of Great Growing_ by _AllegroGiocoso_ , and to be frank, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't think that something like this counts as an achievement…

As I said in the first chapter, I've always wanted to subvert the typical Ducky/Petrie _'me been in love with you from very start'_ romantic plot, so this is only going to be the beginning of all my planned divergents. Waves isn't going to focus heavily on fluffy romance — this fic's genre on FFN are labelled as Adventure and Drama, but Romance could be considered a third, tertiary genre. But not to fret, Ducky and Petrie fans, their unorthodox relationship together will still play a major role, even if the key idea in this story is still the species-swapping. There will still be fluff, and you might have already seen sprinkles of it interspersed throughout the tense recent chapters.

On other stuff, the confrontation between Ferris and Petrie probably didn't go as people had built it up in their heads. I know that I've set him up as a romantic rival to Petrie, but Ferris is primarily a herd leader-to-be and thus he behaves accordingly when things go south. Definitely not going to have him be one of those generic cookie-cutter stereotypical love hypotenuse hate sinks—hello Rhett, looks like you've been summoned from the dark recesses of my mind :P—who one would typically see play the role of romantic rivals in these type of stories. I can promise you that much.

This chapter is more Ducky-centric, and her siblings also appear through flashback in it. Just like Petrie's siblings I intend on fleshing them out, especially since unlike Petrie's siblings they generally remain unexplored both in canon and fanfics (excepting _The Swimmer Trials_ , which I definitely owe a great deal of inspiration to for this choice). The names Delta, Spring, and Oxbow came from _Five Stages of Grief_ , and I opted for three siblings to focus on as that was how many were seen with Ducky and Spike at the end of the original film.

…

 **Anagnos:** Yep, you caught it — the opening and closing scenes sandwiched a cluster of reactions from the ones who Petrie are closest to. While Pterano became a victim of his own medicine, the gang ends up frustrated by the lack of progress, and Petrie's siblings are squabbling, all are blissfully unaware that Petrie had nearly drowned while living out their daily lives. And as seen in this chapter, Ferris isn't 100% a one-dimensional smarmy swimmer either. I'll leave you to judge his character for yourself, but it's wise not to jump to conclusions at such early stages. :P

 **Rhombus:** Petrie is rather altruistic when it comes to his friends, isn't he? Throughout a big portion of this arc I've steadily been highlighting things that Petrie is slowly discovering he had taken for granted in the past, and his friendship with the gang is certainly one, given that in this new form he has to start completely from scratch even with someone like Ducky. I did enjoy your analysis on Cirrus and Petrie's family, it would be interesting to see what others extrapolate out from inferred events.

 **Keijo6:** I do enjoy writing the localized Petrie plot more as it is definitely the focus of the arc. Part of why I focused on the others last chapter though was because I felt like I haven't really done justice to Petrie's disappearance from an outsider's POV. It must be especially worrisome to the gang given the lack of any forewarning whatsoever compared to their usual planned escapades, and to his family as well, given that the rest of his friends are clueless. While Gryphon is an unusual pick, I selected the name due to its avian connotations, though I understand if it's not exactly the most common name.

…

And so Petrie finally caught a break! The seeds of romance between our protagonists have bloomed… or have they? Many treacherous obstacles lay ahead, and making it to first base might not be the most ideal thing in Petrie's current situation…


	10. Treading the Immaculate

**Chapter 10: Treading the Immaculate**

 _Du-Ducky… kissing Petrie?!_

That single thought was all that dominated Petrie's head as the rest of his mind shut down unceremoniously. This was attributed in part due to a breath getting caught in his throat as he froze in shock, literally forgetting how to breathe as he felt Ducky's beak placed to his warm cheeks.

 _What going on… Petrie feel like me gonna faint!_

His eyes were trapped in a precarious balance, repeatedly shifting back-and-forth between two distinct states — furtively glancing right at Ducky, and simply glazing over as his faculties were sent into overdrive due to the sensory overload that he was feeling from his friend exchanging such an intimate gesture at him without her knowledge.

Was it any wonder that his nerves were left in a completely frayed state as a result? Petrie couldn't even get his vocal cords to articulate anything that came close to resembling a coherent word. All that managed to escape his beak were strangled, indecipherable squeaks that conveyed a flurry of confused emotions where words had failed him, emotions that varied from a wide spectrum which consisted of just about every possible feeling between befuddlement and horror.

Because really, how else could Petrie put across his reaction to the fact that _Ducky was actually kissing him… eagerly_!?

The circumstances that had led to the whole situation playing out in such a way was almost unfathomable to Petrie. It seemed so implausible that all the stars had miraculously lined up to give him such an outcome. Because seriously, how had things even ended up getting to this point? How did his simple goal of hiding until the Bright Circle went down end up so royally sidetracked that he was now being kissed by Ducky on her own accord?!

Listening into a valley meeting? Had that down to a T. Find himself being pursued by a sharptooth? Nothing new by this point, to the extent that Petrie was able to recognize Red Claw and his two fastbiter cronies Screech and Thud from a distance away. Sneaking out of the valley? Just another ordinary day to him and his friends.

But _this_? This, he never saw coming. He had no prior experience whatsoever to draw from on how he should react to such an event.

Should he reciprocate her? Or should he cut his losses and reject Ducky's advances by pulling away from her? Despite his frantic brain screaming at him to execute the latter, Petrie didn't do so… and he had no idea why. He simply stayed frozen, right where he was.

Nothing existed outside of this moment. He wouldn't have been able to even describe his surroundings if someone had questioned him right then and there.

And to think that this wasn't even the first time that his friend had smooched him!

Back when the gang had first ventured to the valley, a grateful Ducky had given him a thankful kiss for trying to combat his fear of heights when he was gathering a cache of fresh treestars from the branches of a high tree. Discounting that, there were many more embraces he'd shared with her thereafter — after miraculously surviving the fall from Sharptooth when the predator had almost dragged him to a watery death, discovering the Great Valley for the first time against all the odds, him sobbing about Uncle Pterano, a surprise hug after he had informed a gleeful Ducky that the spiketail herd were going away that one Cold Time… and many more which he couldn't immediately recall off the top of his head.

Despite remaining mulish and hesitant when it came to making decisions or taking charge, Ducky had always been brazen in terms of expressing her emotions. Petrie knew this very well. So why, after he had already shared so many close moments with Ducky, did things feel so drastically different this time round?

Oh wait, that was completely rhetorical. The circumstances behind _this_ show of affection were very different from all the previous ones… _so_ very different.

Petrie had known Ducky for more than half his life now, and it thus went without saying that he was well aware that his friend was a very bubbly and expressive swimmer, even by her species' standards. As such, Ducky also had an inclination towards more physical ways of showing affection. Petrie had seen it firsthand many times before when she hugged or nuzzled against her siblings, and even when the subject of her affection wasn't a swimmer—like all the times she'd embraced him as Petrie or with her brother Spike—they were very clearly meant to be taken in an entirely platonic way.

It was just how Ducky was. Her affectionate traits were pretty much part and parcel of his swimmer friend's jovial and kind-hearted personality. They were practically synonymous with Ducky, almost as much as her wide smile and her signature _"yep, yep, yep!"_ affirmation.

…what was he _doing_?

Dammit, he needed to quit thinking about her smiling face! What was up with him!? Ducky was still Ducky… his best friend! This changed nothing, _nothing_!

…or did it?

Petrie felt a chill running down his spine, eyeballing Ducky to see her still looking at him with coltish eyes as she continued to persistently press her beak to his cheek. His swimmer friend seemed incredibly stoked, practically smiling from ear to ear… and considering the gutsy move that she'd just pulled on him from out of nowhere, Petrie couldn't exactly blame her for feeling that way.

What bothered Petrie the most about this was the startling reminder that Ducky had grown older. Though she was still rather short compared to the height of a grown-up swimmer, she definitely grew at least a head from when they had first met. The slight growth spurt wasn't all that noticeable in the grand scheme of things, especially since Ducky's perky personality was mostly the same as it always was, if a little more reserved and restrained compared to when she was five.

But subconsciously, maybe because he himself—not to mention the rest of the gang—was also getting older, the context and motive behind being the recipient of an innocuous kiss back in their younger days was way different compared to receiving a kiss right now. Granted, Ducky's spontaneous gesture may have been done solely to refute Ferris, but given the context and her fiery words, it was practically akin to a declaration of love. She might have viewed this as a means of an end to spite Ferris, but Petrie could not underscore the impact of what his swimmer friend had just done to him.

One does not just have their best friend unknowingly declare their love for you and then proceed to shrug it off like it was no big deal. That wasn't how things were supposed to work! Just how the heck was he supposed to reply to that!?

Thankfully for Petrie, he didn't have to conjure up a reply. After what seemed like an eternity, Ducky finally pulled away and stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Well, Petrie couldn't speak for anyone else, but she had certainly done quite a number on him. It took quite a while for him to register that Ducky had concluded with her little show.

Only when the world slowly came back into focus did Petrie jolt back into reality. But as his thoughts were still firmly entrenched on Ducky, the first thing that he noticed was his friend shifting her feet awkwardly. Her cheeks were tinged with a reddish shade, a hue that stood out clearly against her green skin.

…wait, did Ducky not think of her kiss as just a means to an end? Surely it was impulsive, a decision that she'd made in the spur of the moment… right?

Oh, no. Oh, noooooooo.

As the haze of his muddled feelings cleared, the euphoria that had coursed through his body slowly gave way to a fearful void. Petrie felt himself going clammy as he took a shaky step towards Ducky. "Wh-what… that about?" he finally managed to force the burning question out at a sniggering Ducky. It was not his best effort though, as the sputtering of his disconcerted voice only resulted in a bemused Ducky giggling more even audibly at watching his plight.

"Well, I kissed you, silly! Yep, yep, yep!" Ducky answered with a light admonishing tone, almost as if she couldn't believe that she had to explain it to him in words. Her aqua eyes glinted with a judgmental expression as she eyed him shrewdly. "Surely you must know what being kissed by a girl means, Paddy? Huh, huh?"

Man, despite her sweet demeanor, Ducky could still be really sneaky and conniving when she wanted to. Such a trait probably came as a prerequisite to being friends with Littlefoot, considering how infamous the gang were around the valley.

But in this instance, her teasing was not helping him, not in the slightest. Yes, there were certainly times where Ducky's happy-go-lucky nature could be quite jarring, usually when she behaved in such a way during otherwise serious situations. He knew that this optimism was Ducky's way of coping with distress, but here it had the unfortunate effect of tainting his mind and leading it towards astray thoughts.

 _No… no! Bad Petrie, bad, bad Petrie! Why you think of your friend this way! She Ducky, she no some flyer girl!_

Petrie had always consigned himself to wind up a lonely flyer who would remain stuck without a mate for the rest of his life. After all, he wasn't an amazing flyer like his siblings in terms of flight, he wasn't naturally charismatic—if acting like a big bully character counted as that—with his words and actions like Gyro, and he didn't have a fancy coat of wings — even Gryphon's khaki wings stood out more than his lackluster dark brown coating.

He'd been hatched near the bottom as compared to his peers and siblings when it came to the pecking order, and as a result Petrie sincerely doubted that any female would take an interest in him beyond a passing fancy given the most optimistic outlook. Even if they _did_ somehow look past all of that, Petrie knew that his broken, childish speech would be a complete deal-breaker and drive away any last remaining stragglers. If his own siblings couldn't live with his manner of talking, what girl in their right mind would willingly nest with him of their own accord?

And thus, he had consigned himself to a bachelor's life. Hey, if it worked out well for his Uncle Pterano, he couldn't complain.

So of course, it was only after he had surrendered all hope of ever finding a mate that the world decided to play a cruel prank on Petrie. What serendipitous timing…

The fundamental problem was that Ducky's gesture had shaken Petrie's worldview, throwing it completely off center. Call him jaded and acclimatized to always being the butt of jokes, but never had Petrie been the subject of so much affection outside of his family and friends… which was ironic, of course, given that Ducky had been his best friend from the moment they first met. Though it was a bond that had been forged ever since a flying attempt gone wrong resulted in Ducky inquisitively pressing for an introduction from him, Petrie's friendship with Ducky had flourished and was still sustained over many adventures throughout the passing Cold Times, and it was no secret that she was just as close to him.

But in that one single kiss, the status quo between friends was shattered as Petrie ended up tasting a forbidden sweet bubble that he never even knew existed before today.

 _Me like it… but she Ducky! Plus, she no know me actually Petrie! It different for Ducky… she think me swimmer!_

He knew that it was wrong for him to be getting a wild sense of thrill from Ducky unknowingly pecking him on the cheek, especially when the swimmer claimed that she'd done it in a romantic way. Why was it that the rapid pounding in his chest made it clear that his heart very much enjoyed Ducky's lips being on his cheek?

If it was so wrong, then why did it feel so… right?

Could it be that he was feeling this way just because he was currently taking the form of a swimmer? Was all this emotion simply a manifestation of his fickle heart deciding to pay a cruel trick on him?

He was hatched a flyer, and her a swimmer. Up until the abrupt transformation that Vekal had subjected him to yesterday night, that was an immutable fact. Despite their similarities they couldn't be more different, so any romantic inclinations from Ducky which might have taken place prior to him being turned into a swimmer would have simply whizzed past his mind.

But now…

 _St-stop! What Petrie thinking? Me scared… this wrong, this all wrong!_

The raging tempest in his heart ended up plunging Petrie into anguish. There would be no satisfactory outcome that could arise from this now that the temptation within him had been awakened.

"I am still waiting for your answer, Paddy. I am, I am!" Ducky teased him jauntily, "Do you like it?"

 _Mom tell Petrie that me soon going to enter Time of Great Growing. Ohhhhh, does this mean it all Time of Great Growing fault me feel dizzy inside!_

Petrie stiffened at the possibility. The last thing he wanted was for pesky emotions and feelings that he didn't even understand to mess everything up for him. He hadn't even really begun to grasp the whole concept yet. Since he was frankly in the dark about the intricate nature involved in such matters, Petrie decided to give a noncommittal answer to Ducky's question instead of outright confirming or denying it.

"Me… I know what kiss between two swimmers mean… and it okay for Paddy."

He just prayed that his stutter or his hesitation didn't give away that lie. If his heart had a say in the matter, the kiss was _more_ than okay, and that apprehension likely came through and was possibly being articulated through his body language. Petrie took in a deep breath to calm himself down, before mumbling a small confession with a meek voice.

"Though… it f-first time me got romantic kiss…"

Ducky cooed at him. "Aw… the first time is always the best! I remember my first time swimming, I do, I do," she smiled fondly. "It was amazing, yep, ye… uh…"

She winced when she recalled that Paddy couldn't swim in fast water, quickly raising a finger to change the topic. "I hope you liked-ed the kiss as much as I did," Ducky winked at him before glancing over to his side. "Yep, yep, yep!"

Following her gaze was what allowed Petrie his first glimpse of a shell-shocked Ferris.

It was at that where he was reminded of why Ducky had initiated the kiss to begin with. Petrie had been so focused on himself that he had forgotten that the kiss had actually been facilitated by an argument between Ferris and Ducky in the first place.

Needless to say, in spite of his many grievances and personal issues—not to mention the resulting fallout that was bound to ensue in the aftermath—with such an approach, Petrie had to concede that Ducky pulling a fast one on him was undoubtedly the most direct way for her to articulate her intentions to the headstrong and obstinate Ferris.

Ferris' face was blank as he looked at the two swimmers. The brash swimmer—and everyone around him, come to think of it—had been stunned into complete silence by Ducky's spontaneous move. His beak was visibly trembling, and it looked like the swimmer was unable to so much as articulate a simple sentence, the choked noises that he was making showing his struggle just to find the words to speak.

 _Brrrr… me sure glad know me no only one who no can think straight after what Ducky did!_

The stupefied swimmer finally managed to raise a quivering finger in their direction. "Du-Ducky… why?" Ferris croaked out after considerable difficulty, his dejected tone of betrayal making it apparent that he was more dazed than aggrieved.

Ducky let out a harumph of displeasure, huffing as she wagged a dismissive finger at Ferris. "Oh, silly Ferris! I told-ed you that I like Paddy as a swimmer more than you. I did, I did." To the chagrin of the prideful Ferris, Ducky proceeded to rub that fact in his face by affirming it with a little ditty. "Yep, yep, yep! The two of us kissed, kissed, kissed!"

Ferris sputtered at her response, the swimmer at a loss for words. His face hung to the ground at Ducky's jeering tune.

Petrie was able to see that the once-headstrong Ferris couldn't bear to look at Ducky after that. Rather unusually for such a sweet swimmer, Ducky was getting gratification at seeing the male driven to his wit's end, her face glowing with cathartic joy. Ferris was able to discern that disdain from her expression, and he wasn't taking it well. He clearly couldn't stand to see Ducky gleefully tearing into him like that, and made no effort in hiding his disappointment.

Oh well. It served him right. If Ferris didn't act so self-centered and behaved like everyone and everything revolved around him, then he wouldn't have taken it so badly. Petrie might have even supported their hypothetical relationship if Ducky didn't have to leave the Great Valley to be with him… and well, if Ferris' attitude had a marked improvement.

A _very_ marked improvement to his current insufferable attitude.

Quite frankly, Petrie was surprised that Ducky even bothered going to such lengths just to spite Ferris by making her displeasure with his actions as clear as the surface of a tranquil river. She was typically a lot more passive with her emotions and thoughts compared to someone like Cera, so the fact that Ducky got frustrated enough to vocalize her irritation about the way Ferris handled his advances towards her as well as call him out for the grudge race that he had challenged Petrie to spoke volumes about Ferris as a whole.

"Life comes at you hard, eh brother?" Amaryl responded on behalf of her brother by walking up to him and patting the still Ferris in the back, a pronounced smirk gracing her beak.

Ferris jerked away from her touch as if her hands were scalding him. In the blink of an eye, his mood changed for the worse. "Oh, shut up, sis," he snapped, positively seething at his sister's instigation. "Not this again… why does this keep on happening to me?" He was vibrating with suppressed anger as Amaryl's cautionary words from earlier regarding Ducky ended up being vindicated.

A small—okay, larger than 'small'—part of Petrie had to admit that seeing Ferris react to the kiss in such an uncultured and undignified manner was very cathartic. He crooned at the sight of the shattered Ferris, who was pretty much in complete and utter shambles. To describe how Petrie felt, it was like if he witnessed Amaryl digging into her brother before he'd run into Ducky all over again, took the enjoyment he felt at that moment of time, and multiplied it by a hundred. Ferris' reaction was _that_ priceless.

Ferris jerked his head up to the sky, before wringing his fingers and wildly gesticulating at Petrie. "Why do this to me, Ducky? What does _he_ have that I don't?" he cried out, his face genuinely torn by Ducky's rejection.

Ducky fixed him a stern look, getting exasperated by the swimmer's incessant whining. "Do I really have to answer that?" she pressed, frowning.

"Yes! Please do!" A powerless Ferris nodded his head vigorously to her question, practically pleading with Ducky. Either unaware or willfully ignorant that Ducky meant for it to be rhetorical, he thrust his arms out in frustration. "I'm stumped! I just cannot comprehend it… why choose him over me?"

Ducky's eyes flashed with a pensive emotion akin to that of disappointment. "Well, I am not going to tell you if you cannot figure it out for yourself. Nope, nope, nope." She closed her eyes, shaking her head despondently. "You should go reflect on everything you said to Paddy and I, Ferris. You should, you should!"

Ferris opened his beak to speak, but then thought better of it and clamped his mouth shut when he realized the futility of trying to duke it out with _Ducky_. While he had done so earlier before the race and before Ducky initiated the kiss, both times he already had the upper hand going into the argument.

He didn't have that edge this time, and his body language showed that he knew it.

Without so much as batting an eye, Ferris whirled onto Petrie, spinning around so fast that his tail appeared to have a whiplash effect. "Why…?" he asked, more disappointed than angry as he glanced him over. "You can't even swim in fast water! Why would Ducky pick a failure like you over me? I just don't understand…"

Petrie scrunched his eyebrows as he heard Ferris lamenting. All things considered, there were likely visible lines that were etched on his forehead from all of the stress.

How the situation had de-escalated from a possible reveal of his identity to now having to debate love matters was beyond him. The only thing that he could focus on as Ferris tried to rationalize how things were falling apart was how different their attitudes were when in distress. While Petrie tended to break down into a panic whenever things went wrong for him—which was _very_ often—Ferris on the other hand apparently had the belief that events would always accommodate him and thus seemed to take it a lot harder than Petrie.

Petrie could recall that when he was spying on Amaryl taking potshots at her brother, Ferris appeared to take her disparaging comments in stride… at least in comparison to how Petrie would've handled his own siblings whenever they teased and mocked him.

Despite the lack of a confirmation from Ducky, Ferris remained confident that she would come around… or at least, he appeared so on the surface. Internally however it would seem like he wasn't quite as sure about his chances. Petrie remembered the doubt and insecurity written on Ferris' face as he privately whined to his sister about the state of his shaky relationship with Ducky, and the knowledge that Ferris wasn't as infallible as he'd initially appeared was what had given Petrie his first ray of hope after he was transformed into a swimmer by Vekal against his will.

And true enough, Ferris certainly wasn't able to ignore all of the warning signs that had pointed to the opposite outcome of what he would've liked to believe and keep himself blissfully ignorant forever. After _this_ debacle, a mutual affection between the swimmers was definitely not the case.

 _Now you know how it like when things no go your way! Things no go Petrie way since day me hatched!_

But of course… Jovi had explained to him that Ferris was being groomed to be the next herd leader, so was it really any wonder that he appeared to act like an entitled brat who took his authority for granted? He'd borne witness to the condescending way that Ferris used when talking to Bartley and Jovi, and during those conversations he certainly took control and spoke like someone who _knew_ of his sway over them.

 _Ferris only talk big…_ The realization dawned on him as he looked at the quaking swimmer _. But he no actually big at all!_

The whole thing reminded Petrie of Hyp and his cronies, a trio of bullies who had mocked him and the gang many Cold Times in the past by virtue of the fact that they happened to be older and larger in size. It seemed as if this was no different — Ferris only seemed to wield his authority on those who he knew would concede to his rule. When the situation spiraled out of control, he hadn't the slightest clue as to how he could salvage it.

But before Petrie could fire back with valor, armed by the knowledge behind Ferris' behavior, his good friend beat him to it.

"Must you always target Paddy whenever you cannot get the better of someone you are arguing with? You are being mean to him just because he cannot fight back, you are, you are!"

An unhappy Ducky stepped in between the line of sight of the two swimmers, coming to Petrie's rescue as she reprimanded Ferris with a tone that was filled with ire in every word. "I told-ed you earlier that I only think you challenged Paddy to a race because you were jealous and wanted to prove that you were better than him by using your herd tradition as an excuse. That is all wrong, Ferris! It is not about who is the better swimmer based on their swimming ability, no, no, no! Not everything must be a competition! Are you that obsessed with your pride… are you really?"

Ferris stumbled back at Ducky's accusation, his eyes going wide and frantically darting about at the crowd of swimmers and flyers surrounding him as he breathed heavily. This time Petrie could spot no trace of hidden anger or vexation in both his posture and expression. Instead, what remained of the formerly conceited swimmer was a somber sense of brittle vulnerability. His glum expression said it all.

Ducky pursed her lips contemplatively, pausing for a brief moment as something came to mind. "Just because someone is not as good at swimming…" she murmured, looking to the flyer siblings in the background who were enraptured by all the commotion, "…does not mean they are a bad swimmer. Nope, nope, nope."

Petrie paused as he looked at Ducky in a peculiar way. There was something about that statement which seemed off to him.

"Hey…" Yaw muttered from the distance, beating him to the punch, "would she happen to be referring to Petrie? Our brother couldn't fly back then, right?"

Petrie found himself stumbling back in shock when he realized that his older brother was likely right — Ducky had probably been thinking about him while lecturing Ferris about the fallacy of judging someone prematurely. Now while he would normally be thrilled to be the subject of Ducky's praise, his current circumstances conversely made it very awkward…

"You know what?" Pitch considered, tilting her head at an angle as she scrutinized Ducky's expression. "That analogy makes total sense. That swimmer Ducky always was rather close to Petrie. Even taking into account the difference in their species, Petrie hangs out with her all the time, more so than the rest of his friends."

…so very much more awkward.

Petrie felt like curling up and hiding away as his close companionship with his swimmer friend abruptly became the subject matter between his squabbling siblings. And since he was listening in on them unintentionally, Petrie felt as though he was eavesdropping on their personal thoughts.

"That reminds me…" Pitch quizzically scratched her head, looking at her two siblings. "Weren't you guys supposed to be looking for Petrie with me?"

Now _this_ caught Petrie's attention.

Petrie stared at his siblings as though he was seeing them for the first time. He was so caught up by the possibility of his family finding him out when his siblings had showed up from out of nowhere that he never once stopped to consider _why_ they were even in the area in the first place. In the heat of the moment his frantic mind simply chose to blame his rotten luck for their sudden appearance.

Although the immediate crisis regarding the challenge-cum-blackmail about his identity was averted, Petrie still had to take care not to divulge any information that he shouldn't be privy about while remaining under the guise of Paddy, doubly so now that his flyer identity was being brought up in conversation. All it would take for everything to fall apart like a consolidated pile of treestars being scattered by the winds was someone putting two and two together, unlikely as may be given the line of thinking it would take for someone to go from noting the similarities to wondering if they were one and the same.

"If you two want to hunt for our skittish brother, be my guest," Roll offered to her two siblings, brazenly shrugging without a care in the world. "But in my opinion, you'd just be needlessly exhausting your breath doing so."

Pitch glanced at her sister disapprovingly. "Just because we got carried away with this drowning incident doesn't mean we can't resume our search, Roll. There is still a chance of locating Petrie if we pool our resources together."

"Ha! You'll have to try harder than simply using fancy words to rope me into this. Why bother expending so much energy on a search that is destined to be futile, Pitch?" Roll countered. "Remember what Gyro drilled into us back at the nest? That we should half-heartedly fly over the valley until the day is done so that we can hand the search over to the grownups when we turn up nothing?"

Petrie wanted to be surprised by this knowledge, but deep down he wasn't. He should have known that his siblings were looking for him while simultaneously denouncing the importance of such a search.

His hint as to what the magnitude of vanishing under mysterious circumstances entailed? A passing comment by Ducky.

 _"Where are you, Spike? I cannot also be looking for you when I am searching for Petrie!"_

Back when Ducky first stumbled across Petrie in his new body, she had remarked that she was searching for him. Back then Petrie simply assumed that it was just Ducky and the gang who were trying to figure out why he had disappeared into thin air, but now that he thought about it there was no reason that the search party couldn't also encompass his family members. It would explain why so many of his siblings were in the area when he had previously chalked it up to mere chance.

The part about Gyro trying to order the rest of his siblings around and convince them that the search be a sloppy and perfunctory one did lead to a damper on his mood though. _Looking for Petrie really that big of burden for me brothers and sisters?_

"Roll kinda has a point, sis." Yaw tried to rationalize, stretching his wings out with a yawn. "I'm quite roughed up after screeching for help to save that drowning swimmer." He glanced at Jovi and Ducky, still miffed that he himself had lost his nerve to plunge into the rapids to rescue Paddy on his own. "After going through something like that, I pretty much lost all motivation to seek Petrie out. I'm tired… just tired."

Satisfied that it was now two-against-one, Roll placed her wings by her hips with a satisfied grin. "As for me, I personally don't care about putting my heart and soul into such a pointless task. Watching the shenanigans here play out is far more entertaining."

Yaw snorted, his perception of the amusement derived from the situation colored differently as he deftly recalled Ferris teaming up with his sister to humiliate him. He had to inhale a sharp breath to cool off. "Given the track record, Petrie's probably in good hands anyway," he tried to persuade his older sibling Pitch, who remained staunchly unconvinced. "How many times has Petrie cheated the Great Beyond now? At least thirty?" the flyer mused before changing his estimate, "…probably more. All things considered it's frankly a miracle that he's still alive today."

In spite of everything, Petrie had to concur with Yaw's assessment. He had scraped through life by the skin of his teeth far too many times to count, typically when participating in one of the gang's many misadventures. Whenever Petrie counted his blessings after surviving a terrifying ordeal, he liked to think that perhaps his father was looking out for him from the Great Beyond.

Roll cackled at Yaw stumbling on his feet while analyzing their youngest brother's fortuitous luck. "Anyway, I agree with Gyro on why we shouldn't plunge into our task full-force, because I'm also betting my treestars that Petrie flew out to the Mysterious Beyond, just like he surmised. But unlike Gyro, I feel as though there's no need to even put on a show just to show Mom that we're 'invested' in searching for our brother." The flyer sarcastically rolled her eyes to place emphasis on the air quotes. "What a pointless ruse. Who cares if Petrie got himself caught up in yet another one of his dumb adventures? Don't waste your time in a lost cause and enjoy this spectacle with me, sis! It's getting spicy!"

Petrie had to restrain himself from verbally protesting even though he sorely wanted to defend himself, as him saying _anything_ would give his real identity away. Trying not to make it obvious, he eyeballed Ducky to try and read her emotions while his siblings were throwing shade at him.

Ducky furrowed her brow, scratching the crest at the back of her head in contemplation. Petrie had to admit that the half-grouchy, half-pensive demeanor that Ducky emoted while she brooded was admittedly kind of cute.

 _Hm, look like Ducky crest be growing slightly bigger since… no wait, Petrie, stop! What you doing!?_

This time Petrie was able to mentally catch himself fantasizing about his friend in time, forcing him to physically slap his beak with the palm of his hand to snap out of it.

"Getting spicy?" Pitch's retort as she repeated her sister's words thankfully assisted in keeping Petrie's mind out of a ditch. "The swimmer that was flailing for help is now safe and sound, so we ought to search for Petrie. Mom asked us to!" Seeing her siblings remain unconvinced despite that, she tried to appeal to their emotions. "There is still a chance that we can find Petrie if he's here somewhere in the valley and not out in the Mysterious Beyond. Don't just write the whole thing off as a failure just because Gyro said so! We can't afford to slack off, we need all wings on deck during the early critical moments!"

"Let someone who actually _cares_ about Petrie do all the work then!" Roll muttered to Pitch. "As long as I have someone like that goody-two-shoes Gryphon picking up the slack for me, I don't have to lift one wing to assist!"

Petrie felt his eyes drift away as his sisters continued to fervently argue about him, just in time to see _another_ sister catapult the situation into turmoil.

"Ahahahaha! Just suck it up and admit that I was right all along, Ferris! You totally bungled things with that girl, just like I said you would!" Amaryl chuckled at her brother's plight. "Your sheer incompetence when it comes to mock leadership is nothing short of disastrous!"

With an enormous effort, Ferris lifted his hanging head to glare daggers at his sister. "I think you've made your point. Now leave me alone," he deadpanned.

"Actually, I think the one who has made their point is _me_ ," Ducky corrected. "Yep, yep, yep!"

"Really? Is that so?" Amaryl commented in a droll-like manner that Petrie had quickly likened to the constantly sarcastic—at least when it came to mocking her brother—swimmer girl.

For a brief second, the humor in Amaryl's eyes was displaced by a raw emotion of unbridled agitation. Right as Petrie blinked in surprise at the swerve of her mood from amused to frustration, the amused swimmer went right back to cackling at Ferris' plight.

Petrie had to rub his eyes, unsure if what he saw actually happened or was a figment of his imagination. It very well could be his head playing tricks on him. His incredibly active mind had conjured a whole plethora of chaotic doomsday scenarios, almost all of which involved his identity being revealed and resulting in him being stranded in his current swimmer form as he was hung out to dry by a triumphant Vekal.

Petrie vehemently shook his head. Nope… not gonna happen! Nope, nope, nope!

…gah, he couldn't be safe from Ducky in his head even when she wasn't the focus of her thoughts. Twice now he had unconsciously used her trademark triple affirmation without thinking.

Frankly, it was a miracle that Vekal hadn't trounced him with the whole "keep your identity secret" caveat yet. There were plenty of opportunities where Petrie could have blown his cover, but now he was so deep into his Paddy persona that even if the threat by Vekal was hollow, he couldn't reveal himself to be a transformed Petrie.

Because really, how could he possibly tell Ducky that she had unknowingly kissed her best friend like she would a prospective mate?

He shuddered as he contemplated the possible fallout of such a reveal, especially as up till now he still wasn't sure how far Ducky was going to take it. Even now Ducky was still sending him mixed signals on whether she had kissed the transformed Petrie just to instigate Ferris or if she actually had something for Paddy. Despite trying to wrap his mind around all the possibilities and meticulously scrutinizing her expression, he still couldn't figure it out.

But if it was the latter…

 _P-Petrie? You were Paddy all along…? Ohhhh… how could you trick me like that!? I-I trusted you! I did, I did!_

No… it wasn't going to happen. He'd take this secret to his death.

Besides, if Ducky somehow did learn about his dirty little secret before the Bright Circle set, then it would all be for naught anyway, because Vekal would—

Petrie's eyes widened in shock. How could he have forgotten?

The swimmer subtly slid his eyes over so that the vegetation further inland came into his field of vision.

Yep, they were still there — a pair of gleaming teal eyes surrounded by a deluge of treestars, the foliage serving as the perfect cover for someone attempting to intrude on the scene.

" _I have my ways of knowing. Spill the sweet bubbles and I will ensure that you stay this way forever…"_

Petrie shuddered when he remembered that he had wanted to investigate them right before Ducky had distractedly sent the entire situation spiraling in her favor. After all, as he had surmised, someone who was deliberately keeping themselves hidden to observe him was quite likely to be in cahoots with Vekal…

Well, no time like the present. And with a sizeable audience encircling the premises thanks to all of the hijinks that succeeded his near drowning, the perpetrator wouldn't be able to flee the premises when Petrie confronted them. Who would have thought that the crowd of swimmers and flyers which he'd earlier feared would be the precursor to his downfall was now about to be his greatest asset?

Petrie sucked in a deep breath and steeled himself, taking large strides over to the bush before he could lose his nerve and wimp out.

"Who you? Why you hiding in here!?"

His accusation cut off the battle of words between his sisters. The feverish bustle of conversation died down almost instantaneously as almost everyone turned and focused their attention to where Petrie had thrown his voice. All that remained was an eerie silence as all eyes fell onto Petrie.

The eyes in the bushes appeared to shiver when everyone noticed them, but they quickly hardened and recovered from the unpleasant surprise.

"Oh, dammit!" a male voice spoke up. "Got caught out, and just when it was reaching the best part of Ferris' hilarious stand-up comedy act too!" The frustration then simmered down, supplanted by a posh and mocking tone. "But please, don't mind me. I'm just a friendly observer who has never been here."

Everything was thrown for a loop when the one who was hidden unveiled themselves from where they'd previously lay unnoticed in the bushes. It wasn't Vekal—the differing eye color was a dead giveaway—or the mystery flyer who had stalked him out earlier.

But to Petrie's complete surprise, he was able to recognize the yellow-colored dinosaur who emerged from his hiding spot while sporting a smug demeanor.

 _"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that your reliability as a navigator has come under fire before, and this incident is getting rather close to the tipping point. Your bumbling is seriously getting out of hand recently."_

It was the swimmer who he had witnessed reprimanding Jovi for missing their herd leader's speech just yesterday!

He staggered back in shock, left reeling from the revelation. Given how eventful the previous day had been for him, he'd completely forgot about the other swimmer who had been strolling with Jovi until now. That wasn't even taking into account that for some reason Petrie had expected the culprit to be the flyer who had been spying on him uncannily from a vantage point on the Great Wall before the race had begun.

Petrie didn't anticipate for the eavesdropper to be a member of Ferris' herd. The idea had never even crossed his mind.

The swimmer stepped out of his exposed hiding spot and into the open, barely even fazed at being caught out. Conversely, it appeared as though he was positively reveling at being the center of attention. He brushed off a few yellowed treestars that were stuck to his flank, almost perfectly camouflaged with his sandy-yellow body, the slow and deliberate manner in which he insipidly swept them off a telltale indicator that he was likely deriving a sense of twisted enjoyment from savoring the slack-jawed expressions which greeted him.

"V-Valent…!" Ferris seethed, the first one to break the silence as he pointed a trembling finger at the newcomer. "You… what is the meaning of this!?"

 _Oh yeah!_ Petrie realized with a jolt as he looked to and fro between both swimmers. _Me no remember his name till now! It slip Petrie mind!_

"You'll have to excuse me." Valent stated in a curt and superficial manner which implied that those words weren't meant to be taken sincerely in the slightest. The way he carried himself in a gruff and self-important way quickly set off his Cera alarm bells. "I simply wanted a better view of the show. I mean, I wouldn't want to miss a race after your previous debacle. You lost to Jovi, for crying out loud!" His eyes slid over to the herd navigator, still catatonic from the trauma involving the drowning Paddy and his resulting scolding from earlier. "No wonder you ordered this one unannounced! But did you really think that I wouldn't be able to catch wind of it! Only in your sleep stories, I'm afraid!"

Ferris squeezed his eyes shut, the swimmer struggling—and failing—to keep his cool. After having to deal with Ducky's harsh reprimand, the threshold of his patience was at its breaking point. "And what about it, huh? Come to taunt me?"

"Not particularly." Valent stopped walking, leaving a distance of about three arm's length away from the other swimmer. "What's wrong? You don't believe me?"

"Hmph! What a rhetorical question, coming from you of all swimmers," Ferris replied with a half-hearted chuckle.

The yellow swimmer snorted at that. "Glad that we're both on the same page then. No need for me to waste my time by beating around the treestar bush, then."

Ferris stiffened. "What do you want, Valent? I won this race, so how about if you be nice and keep your beak shut for once?"

"I'm afraid you've been misinformed." Valent took a few paces forward, a smug grin on his beak. He glanced over to his side, making brief eye contact with Ducky followed by Petrie. "You think that your victory over that other swimmer should take precedence over the fact that a tragedy almost occurred to your competitor?"

"You've been here for that long…" Ferris cursed, before marching up to Valent with fury in his eyes. "And if you were, why didn't _you_ go and save Paddy, huh?!" He flew into a rage, looking ready to slap the other swimmer. "Don't try to be hypocritical and accuse me when you yourself are no better! I know it's really because you didn't want to blow your cover! If Paddy didn't notice you, none of us would have been the wiser!"

Something clicked in Petrie's mind as he took in Ferris' sour expression. The normally stoic Ferris was being unusually bristled by the appearance of this swimmer.

Jovi had mentioned something about this swimmer to him and the gang when they first met… what was it that Jovi said about Valent? There was something that he knew he was forgetting…

 _"I'm afraid Ferris is used to getting what he wants. It's why he considers Valent quite the annoyance. To think that it's all because Valent is a rather curt reality check for him. Petty, isn't it?"_

Wracking his brain paid off. That was it! The two swimmers weren't fond of each other!

 _"Ferris and Valent are not the best of friends. In fact, I'd peg the two of them as rivals. Their many feuds are legendary among the herd."_

Yep, yep, yep! That was clearly true… argh, he did it again!

 _"Valent… that swimmer… of course he'd say that. He really takes great joy in putting down others."_

Great. Just what he needed at a time like this.

Valent was confident and assertive with his words. Petrie could clearly remember making the distinction between Jovi and Valent when he'd first seen both swimmers through differences in their physical stature, namely that Jovi had a larger head crest and body size. And yet, the smaller Valent was chastising him the entire time, talking down to the herd navigator as though he was the one calling the shots.

This occasion was no different.

"Geez, I was about to," Valent defensively held his arms out, rather unfazed by Ferris' allegation. "I'm not heartless, but fortunately for me that blue flyer, Jovi, and the swimmer you were hoping to impress all collectively saved me the trouble." His face turned to that of disgust as he turned his back on Ferris and strolled away from him. "Don't compare me to the likes of you. I am ten times the swimmer that you'll ever be, Ferris!"

Ferris stomped his feet on the ground. "Y-You… where do you think you're going?!" he demanded, unwilling to let Valent get the last word in. "Come back here right this moment!"

Valent exhaled a derisive sigh, spinning on his heel to face Ferris. "You are hoping to bolster your reputation here in the Great Valley, hm?" he claimed, before tilting his head up and laughing to himself. "Too bad for you, then. The dinosaurs around here are a clean slate free from Geoffrey's influence, so making a good first impression counts."

Ferris visibly flinched, but tried playing it off. "What are you insinuating?"

Valent held out his right arm and wagged his index finger at Ferris with a metronomic rhythm. "Isn't it cruel that all it'll take to ruin your name is a single incident such as this? Wouldn't that be a shame? If word of this were to leak out?" he sneered with a cocky glint in his eye, leaving his threat dangerously hanging.

Ferris forcefully kicked his foot against the trunk of a tree that was unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire. "Did you come here just to prance around like an overconfident buffoon?" he hissed, the harsh undertone making his intent clear to his audience. "Trying to force me to submit by threatening to tell on me is about as threatening as a sharptooth hatchling!"

"Are you sure about that, brother?" Amaryl interjected with an impish grin.

"Sh-shut up, sis!" Ferris shot his sister a betrayed look. "Quit aiding him! You always do that!"

Valent winked at Amaryl before chortling at a perturbed Ferris. "Hahaha! You may act impassive on the outside, but I know you far too well! When this is all over, we'll see which of us has the last laugh!" Leaning his head back intrepidly with his fingertips locked in a web behind his neck, Valent let his deep baritone rumble. "You better prepare yourself, because I intend to sully your name so completely that you'll never be able to hold your head high in this valley ever again!"

"Try me, you damn swimmer! My Pops is the one with power in this herd!"

As tempers began to flare and accusatory fingers started to fly everywhere, Petrie could hear his sister Roll murmur a snide remark to her older siblings. "See! I told you two that it'd be worth staying here for the drama!" she held her head up high in triumph. "I mean, we're flyers… the eyes in the sky! With our gift of flight and our keen eyesight, we flyers are privy to more information than practically any other species. We live a life where we have the opportunity to witness and listen in to all sorts of tantalizingly juicy conversations. Come on, don't tell me you two aren't the least bit curious to see how this'll all play out?"

Petrie felt a physical jab in his heart as his sister listed all the traits of a flyer which he had previously taken for granted after learning how to fly. Concluding her speech with a summary of the benefits of being a flyer was simply the kicker. It really stung due to his current situation.

He raised the palm of his arm up, staring at the spot where a wing membrane would have once draped down from his tendons.

 _Me no gonna look down on swimmers when me back to normal! Ducky make swimming look easy, but she really have it hard!_

As the two swimmers glared at each other with undisguised venom in their eyes, Petrie regretted calling out Valent from his hiding spot. How was he supposed to know that the dinosaur who was lying in wait was not actually Vekal's probable associate, but rather Ferris' sworn rival?

The knowledge that Valent wanted to disseminate the details behind his near drowning as a threat to Ferris spooked Petrie. He supposed that it was inevitable with an audience having witnessed the incident, but when Valent warned that he would leak details of the episode, the consequences and repercussions of the knowledge spreading across the valley seemed all the more real. Petrie felt as though he was once again threshing about in the suffocating fast water rapids… and just when things looked like they were calming down, too!

…okay, discounting the whole 'being kissed by Ducky' part. But at least Ferris was in a depressed funk in the aftermath of that. If he hadn't unveiled the hidden Valent and reignited Ferris' anger, there was a very good chance that he might have been able to escape the premises with only a scant few dinosaurs having seen him.

But with the two of them making a scene, that was out of the question now. In a sense, he supposed that with the attention having fallen away from him he could technically attempt to sneak away, but some morbid part of Petrie couldn't pry his eyes away from the unfolding scene.

Petrie supposed his sister was right. Despite having the body of a swimmer, the innate curiosity that he had as a flyer remained a part of him.

No fancy transforming shiny stone or manipulative flyer could rob that from him.

"What's the matter?" Valent smirked, knowing that he was grating on his target. "Sharptooth got your tongue, _Ferry_?"

Petrie froze at the unusual term of address right as Ducky let out an unsuppressed snicker. A mortified Ferris blanched, shooting his head towards Ducky in despair before his face turned an icy cold.

Then again, making a run for it sounded more and more tempting a prospect as time went on…

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I've actually had a good portion of this chapter sitting on my laptop for the past month, and since the conclusion of this arc—much like the entirety of this fast water race arc as a whole—proved to once again be a massive undertaking, I eventually decided to just finish up whatever I had and post it online. Y'all have waited long enough for this!

A large bulk of this chapter was exploring the ramifications of Ducky's kiss, both internally and externally. Poor Petrie had his mind blown, haha! Does Ducky like his alter ego, or is it all to keep up the ruse so that she could serve Ferris his just desserts? I am also aware that a few readers do not like the way Ferris has acted thus far, and in this chapter he does publicly get taken down a peg, hah.

…

 **Guest:** Thanks! Unfortunately, Petrie would still want to flee when the situation blows over, so I'm not too sure if a meeting between his new form and the gang would end up happening between them. If Ducky almost made him squeal the truth, imagine Cera. :p

 **DiddyKF1:** Don't worry, Ducky kissing Petrie probably caught _everyone_ off guard both in and out of universe, not just you. I think the question to ask isn't whether Petrie returns Ducky's feelings, but whether _Ducky's_ feelings for him are genuine right now at all. Plus, Ferris does indeed get trolled by Ducky's antics in this chapter. Are you happy now?

 **Anagnos:** I never actually thought of JW when I was naming Delta — a delta is a landform at the mouth of a river. :p Anyway, Ducky is a swimmer who is seemingly incapable of hate, so while she does dislike Ferris and is rather hostile to him at the moment I wouldn't discount the possibility of some reconciliation in the future. While Ferris did put the blame on Jovi for freezing in the heat of the moment despite being the closest bystander, I think Ducky succinctly put it best — in that it seems as though Ferris is determined to blame everyone but himself. I also find it intriguing that you do not stand by Ducky's choice of kissing Paddy, since in a sense you are absolutely right — kissing Paddy is quite a petty move to make if it was done solely to spite Ferris. But to be fair Ducky did come to Petrie's rescue when he was being lambasted earlier thanks to her kind nature, it's just that I haven't explained what Ducky's thought process is from her POV yet, so everything we're getting now is from _Petrie's_ viewpoint.

 **Keijo6:** Yes, I'm glad you pointed that out. Despite being submissive most of the time, Jovi is assertive when it comes to certain topics — as you surmised, probably his disdain for Ferris. There's definitely more to him than just being a Guido 2.0. I understand your concerns for Ferris and I will admit that the structure of this arc shows him as more of a typical antagonist, but there are shades and hints of him being more than just a two-dimensional hate sink, at least compared to his first encounter with the gang.

 **Rhombus:** I think I always wanted to write a 'the talk' scene in a LBT context given how many I've read in the past. The propensity to make things hilariously awkward for the subjects involved isn't one to miss, especially with the obvious low-hanging fruit that is swimmer species habits. Yes, the last chapter was practically the callout chapter. In a sense, Petrie is legitimately the audience to his own demise as others end up fighting on his behalf with their own personal goals. And now others are still arguing about Ducky's sneaky kiss on him. How fun! :P

…

With two rival swimmers about to duke it out and Valent threatening to reveal the events of the fastwater race to a larger audience, will Petrie make it out unscathed? And more importantly, just _what_ is Ducky thinking about the kiss?


End file.
